Once Upon A Reality
by WarriorsSword6
Summary: Lily and James are now in their 6th year at Hogwarts, and by some miracle they are getting along. Both of them, and a few of their friends, are beginning to realize that life is not a fairy tale... or is it?
1. Prologue

**Chapter 1**

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess that lived in the highest tower of the most magnificent castle in all the land. The princess had long flowing red locks that curved and curled just right and big green eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. The princess was so beautiful that all the princes wanted the chance to marry her and sweep her away to a distant land, but most never made it past "Hey, good looking."… Okay, so I'm not a princess and I definitely don't have all the princes, or even normal boys, vying for my attentions. I'm not the most gorgeous girl in the world, I don't have the perfect body, or the most beautiful hair, or the eyes that sparkle in the sunlight, but I am pretty smart and I'm a great person. While I may not be the image of the perfect princess, I am pretty in a girl-next- door kind of way. And I _do_ live in a castle most of the year for school. I go to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry because I am a witch, and if you were surprised by this, just think how _I_ felt when a big brown barn owl tumbled its way through our kitchen window one morning, landed in my juice and stuck out a leg with my acceptance letter attached to it. Yeah, I was a teensy bit startled when _that_ happened.

In a month I'll be entering my 6th year at Hogwarts. I'm looking forward to being able to see my best friends everyday and all of the interesting things we learn in class. Yeah, I know, I sound like little miss suck up don't I? Well the truth is I actually do enjoy learning new spells and potions and even history from Professor Binns. I spent the first eleven years of my life watching the world go by and waiting for something to happen. I didn't have any real friends, I was too busy walking around with my head in the clouds dreaming of fairy princesses and unicorns and prince charming. My grades in school were always average and the boys all thought of me as either one of the guys or the weird girl who always walked around with a book. The day I got my Hogwarts letter I realized that finally, something was happening, something that it seemed I'd been waiting for my whole life. An hour later I had my suitcase out and was trying to figure out which books I wanted to take with me to school that fall.

Now, six years later, I have received my latest letter from Hogwarts and am now busy packing my suitcase with my favorite books and clothes and my most prized possessions. Tomorrow I'm meeting my friends at Diagon Alley to shop for our school things. I just hope we don't run into _him._


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 2**

"Now _that_ was a fun ride." I exclaimed as I stepped off of the Knight Bus and onto the sidewalk just outside of the Leaky Cauldron. "Thanks for the lift Ernie!" I yelled to the bus driver as Stewy dropped my trunk next to me on the sidewalk. "And thank you Stewy for the help with my trunk."

"Oh, it was my pleasure Miss Evans." Stewy said as he

"See you later Stewy, see you Ernie." I waved goodbye to the Knight Bus and turned around and walked into the Leaky Cauldron where I was supposed to be meeting my friends Rebecca and Rebecca. Yeah, I know confusing, good news is, they use different nick names. Rebecca #1 likes to be called Rebby, while Rebecca #2 likes to be called Becca. Of course, sometimes I just call them #1 and #2. I met them both on the train my first year at Hogwarts. They were both sitting in the same compartment when I knocked on the door and asked if I could sit with them. They nodded and promptly introduced themselves to my great confusion. They had apparently been planning the conversation ten minutes prior to my knock, trying to find the most fitting way to completely baffle anyone they introduced themselves to. Apparently they decided on talking as fast as possible and practically finishing each others sentences while leaving their victim, i.e. me, no time to say anything. I was confused to say the least. The two still get a kick out of trying to confuse people with their names.

I dragged my trunk into the Leaky Cauldron and looked around for my friends, but I didn't see them. However, sadly, that didn't mean that they hadn't seen me. I walked over to Tom the bartender, and asked for a butterbeer and if he had seen the two girls yet today. Tom retrieved my butterbeer and looked thoughtfully at me for a moment. Then, just as he was about to reply I hear heavy footsteps and a screech behind me. I tried to step to the side or duck or something, but I was too slow.

"LILY!" the two girls yelled as they tackled me to the floor with their overly excited hugs.

"Ow… so, you need to come up with a new way of greeting people, because if I lose anymore brain cells, I won't be smart enough to help you with our potions homework." I replied from my position on the floor. I sat up on my elbows and looked around; apparently getting tackled in the Leaky Cauldron and landing on your back in a spread eagle position attracts a bit of attention, because everyone was staring at me like I had four arms, three eyes, and a tail. With out warning, I grabbed one of each girl's hands and pulled myself off the floor, making them trip forward and almost fall flat on their faces. I brushed my back end off and asked "So how is your summer going?"

This question, of course, gave them the opportunity to be confusing by both speaking about two different things at the same time, with equal excitement and speed. While they babbled about their summers, I took the opportunity to observe them more closely and see how much they had changed since I had last seen them two and a half months ago.

Rebby looked about the same as she had the year before; same long, wavy brown hair with natural blonde highlights, same round face lit up with a constant smile, same hazel-green eyes that sparkle when she laughs. She had grown an inch or two, making her a proper 5'4" tall, though I still had at least an inch on her. She was wearing a short sleeve blue t-shirt with a muggle band logo on the front in black and green. Her extra long legs were covered by slightly faded blue jeans with blue stitching along the hems. She also had on a pair of new red and black checkered converses, of which I was slightly envious.

Becca, on the other hand, had changed quite a bit. She still had the deep blue eyes set into a heart shaped face along with her ever present smirk of amusement. Her clothing choice was expected as well; two spaghetti strap tanks, one blue, one black, layered over top of each other with dark, fray hemmed blue jeans, her old blue, brown, and white sneakers, and a black ¾ sleeve cotton jacket with a blue rose on the front. What was really different was her hair. It had always been long and wavy; nearly reaching her bottom, but now it was much redder than it was its former strawberry blonde. Also, she was now around 5' 7" tall, a good three inches taller than she had been at the end of last school year.

I raised an eyebrow as the two came to a stop at the same time and smiled at me. "You enjoy being bloody confusing don't you?"

"Of course we do! It's what we do best!" Becca replied smiling from ear to ear. "Other than pulling pranks with the-"

"STOP! I don't even want to hear them mentioned today. Today is a fun, Marauder free day." What or who is a marauder? You ask. A marauder is an overly annoying and completely useless group of pranksters who have no respect for the rules or other people's personal space. As a prefect, they were my arch enemy, as a girl, they were, usually, the bane of my existence. "Now lets get my trunk up to the room so we can get on with the fun stuff, shall we?" I said picking up one of the handles on my trunk while Rebby grabbed the other and exclaimed "Tally ho!"

I laughed and rolled my eyes at her and started up the stairs to the room. Becca followed behind us saying things like "Getty-up!" and "Andale, mi amigas! Vamos! Rapidamente, por favor!" She has a habit of speaking in Spanish at random moments. Where she learned Spanish, I'm still not sure, but as far as I can tell, she's pretty good at it and her accent is perfect. Fifteen minutes later we had deposited my trunk in the room, fed my owl Malachia, Rebby's owl Whiz, and Becca's owl Hermes some owl treats, let Becca's cat Alasse and Rebby's cat Inkberry out of their carrier cases to play, and walked out the back of the Leaky Cauldron and through the secret doorway into Diagon Alley all the while verbally abusing each other in a good natured way. We decided to go to Gringots first to get some money from our vaults, then to head to Madame Maulkin's for some new robes, and then to stop by the new Ice Cream Parlor for a snack.

By around three o'clock we had collectively finished off a Giant Choco-berry-licious Sundae and were ready to go get our school books and some more potions supplies. First we went into the Apothecary and gather the necessary potion ingredient refills. Then we headed back down Diagon Alley towards Flourish and Blott's and the Leaky Cauldron entrance. As we passed Mr. Olivander's wand shop I smiled and waved at the eccentric old man. His muttered words of "You'll do great things, Miss Evans, especially with charms" echoed through my head. So far they had proven true, I was top of my class in charms, and not far behind in DADA and Potions. Sometime's though, I wondered if all he was referring to were my classes at school. There was something… omniscient about that man.

We spent at least two hours looking around Flourish and Blott's both getting our school books and browsing through the fiction and defense sections. We, being the three of us, had been working outside of class on working out and learning some defensive spells that we weren't going to learn this coming year in class. With _He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named_, I mean Voldemort, yes, with Voldemort running around out there with his followers, his Death Eaters, you could never be too safe. One of the girls in our dorm, Alice Grey, had lost her Aunt to Voldemort, and I had had to console a 4th year I found crying in a corner of the commons one night over the murder of her father. Whether he seems like a real threat or not, Voldemort was slowly reaching out and touching each of us with his icy trail of death and destruction. So we three had decided to bulk up on our defense skills and a few well placed charms and other spells. We were also considering becoming animagi, but not too seriously. The odds of our actually accomplishing it were slim, and it was illegal to try without proper instruction, which we didn't have access too.

Finally at around six o'clock, with our bags incredibly heavier and our wallets extremely lighter, we started back to the Leaky Cauldron. We headed up to our extra large room and dropped off our belongings. After feeding the pets, we decided to go back down to the pub for some dinner before going to bed. Rebby and Becca were leading and I was following right on their heels when suddenly I missed a step and fell head long into the two of them, The force of the impact making all three of us tumble down 5 or 6 steps and crash into the people at the bottom of the stairs.

I ended up on the bottom of the pile with five or six people sitting on my feet, legs, torso and chest. My arms and head were free though, so I used them to try to sit up and see how much destruction I had caused. Rebby and Becca were tangled into the mess of people just as I was. The table and chairs that had been closest to the stairs had collapsed and a couple of chairs had been turned on their sides. Apparently a waitress had also had the misfortune of being caught in our path, because there was pumpkin juice, butterbeer, soup, hamburgers, French fries, and something that smelled distinctly of whisky all over us; 'us' of course being the mass of writhing arms and legs and heads attempting to stand up all at once from the incredibly tangled mess. People from all over the pub were sitting quietly in their chairs gaping with slack jaws and the pile of bodies on the floor. You'd think we had grown three heads and shouted 'I'm a purple pumpkin poodle pickled in poppy seeds' or something. Okay, maybe not the best example, but you get the point.

I heard a groan of pain just to the left of my elbow and looked over to see the messy black hair and deep chocolate eyes of one of my fellow Hogwarts students.

"Oh, great." I groaned in annoyance "It's _you._" Then I promptly blacked out.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 3**

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. A wave of pain throbbed through my head. With every 'tap' came another wave, and another, and another. My mouth felt like cotton and my entire body was sore. I tried to open my eyes but all I saw was a blindingly bright light before I snapped them shut again and groaned in pain. Note to self: when you have a huge head ache, bright lights don't help. Wait… why do I have a head ache at all? Did I get drunk or something? I bet Potter slipped me fire whiskey again. That bloody prat, you'd think he would have learned from the last time that I can't hold my liquor. Then it clicked.

"Potter!" I exclaimed as my eyes flew open and I sat bolt up right and looked around the room. I had been moved into my bed in our room at the Leaky Cauldron. I looked to my left to see Rebby and Becca sitting in the bed next to mine playing a card game with Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Peter Pettigrew was sitting in a chair beside them tapping his foot loudly on the floor. When I had sat up and said potter's name they had all turned suddenly and looked at me like I was insane. I looked to my right and saw James Potter leaning back against the wall in a chair with his arms folded across his chest. He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "You rang?"

I glared at him. Then turned and asked Rebby and Becca "What happened? And why are the Marauders in our room?"

"Well, you tripped or something and fell and hit us, making all three of us fall down the stairs and we landed on top of them." Rebby gestured to the Marauders. "You hit your head or something and blacked out. Remus healed your head wound, but he says you'll have a head ache for a day or two. Apparently you got your first concussion today." She smiled at me like that was something to be proud of.

"And you smile at this statement because…?"

"Your human after all."

"What?"

"What she means is that after four years of playing quidditch with bludgers flying at your head and five years of having Becca as you partner in charms, the karma has finally caught up with you and you got hurt for once." James said, the smirk growing into a fully fledged smile. Cute… wait, what? I did not just think that.

"So, why are these dolts in our room?" I asked.

"We invited ourselves in to stay for a bit as repayment for acting as your personal landing pads and healers." Sirius said giving Becca a wink. Becca blushed and looked away. Oh, great, she was catching Sirius-it is, that's just what I needed, to have a splitting headache and have to keep one of my best friends from making a serious mistake at the same time.

No pun intended.

"Okay then. Thanks for healing me Remus. You can stay. The rest of you, out, now." I said.

"Hey! How come Remus gets to stay and we don't?" Peter complained.

"Well, for one thing, he healed me, and for another thing he's the only one of you lot that I can stand to be in the same room with for more than ten minutes."

"But we were your landing pad! You landed on us!" Sirius said.

"Yes, well, before I blacked out, I noticed that I was on the bottom of the pile, making me your landing pad. Now, OUT!"

Sirius and Peter complained and whined and pouted, but shuffled their way to the door just the same. Remus sat on the bed still, laughing at his friend's attempts to stay in the room. James, well, he just sat there, silently. Then he stood up and walked out of the room without protest. That was odd. No 'Can I stay too? Please, please!' or 'Lily, Lily will you go out with me?' That was strange… Potter was usually pretty over the top when he was around me, trying to ask me and attempting to practically glue himself to my side, doing anything for attention. And yet today, right now… nothing. Hmmmm….

I closed the door on the boys and turned back to the girls and Remus. "Thanks again Remus for healing me, and I'm sorry we landed on you, that was kind of my fault seeing as I'm the one who slipped on the bloody stairs."

"No problem, all in a days work." He replied smiling kindly.

"Would you like to stay and-" Of course I then completely forgot what I was going to say because someone was knock, knock, knocking at the door to our room.

I turned around and opened the door again. James was standing there with a completely serious look on his face, Sirius and Peter standing behind him. "May we come in and hang out with you all as well? Or are you going to make us stay out here in the hallway just outside your door all night?" James asked, completely straight faced, which must have been an incredibly difficult task for him. He always wore his infuriating trade mark smirk, and I personally had only ever seen him frown once, when someone insulted him and his choice in friends. James had been so mad then that I thought he could have killed the person, or at least beat them to a bloody pulp, with his own hands. He hadn't though. James had managed to control his temper that one time. Wait, now I'm calling him James? Great, now I'm catching James-itis. I definitely do not like James Potter, and yet…. And yet somehow I replied "Yeah sure, since you asked nicely." And let the three of them in.

When I closed the door and turned around to face everyone again, Rebby and Becca were both giving me strange looks. I shook my head slightly as if to say 'not now' and took a seat on the bed between Rebby and Remus. "So what game are we playing?"

"Exploding snap?" Sirius suggested.

"These are muggle cards, they don't explode." Remus said.

"Oh, right."

"Where's the fun in that?" questioned Peter.

"Cayate, you idiots. Rebby, Becca, what do you want to play?" I asked.

"I'm thinking either poker or rummy, what about you?" Rebby asked Becca.

"I dunno… I don't really want to play either of those right now. OH! Oh! I know! We can play this new game I learned this summer, it's called egyptian rat screw, but my counselor at rock climbing camp calls it egyptian mud slap. What you do is you deal all of the cards out to everyone, but no one looks at them. Then we go around in a circle laying down the card on the top of our hand face up in the middle of the circle. If you see doubles, two nines or two fives or something, then you slap the pile in the middle and the first person to slap it gets the cards. If someone lays down a king queen or jack, the next person gets three, two, or one chance, consecutively, to lay down another face card. If they don't lay down a face card, then the player who laid down the face card originally gets to pick up the whole pile, but if the other player manages to put down a face card then the process is repeated for the player in the circle that comes after them. The point is to collect all of the cards. Everyone understand?" Becca paused and looked around at the rest of us mere mortals. If there was any one person I could never win an argument with for simple lack of longwinded response, it was Anabell Rebecca Burns. Yeah, her first name is Anabell, but she rarely uses it. She prefers some variation of Rebecca.

"Um, what did you just say?" Peter asked with a stunned look on his face.

Becca explained the game again, with more detail and a visual explanation, very slowly, for Peter, and then dealt the cards. We played egyptian rat screw for a while, then a few rounds of five card draw poker. By the time we were tired of playing cards, it was nearly 2 a.m. and we were all spread out on the floor, in a chair, or on the bed reduced to laughing like particularly amused hyenas while trying to remember to breath.

After I had managed to stop laughing I looked over at Becca. She was lying on her back on the bed, still laughing loudly and uncontrollably. Her laughter suddenly turned to wheezing laughs and coughs intermixed. I raised an amused, yet worried eyebrow at her. "Becca, breath; that's the thing where you suck air in and then let it back out again." I demonstrated this in an exaggerated manner. Becca sat up on the bed and tried to regain her composure. She looked around and realized everyone was staring at her.

"What? Am I growing an extra head?"

"I've never seen someone laugh that loudly, for that long." Peter said, amazed.

"Not even Sirius can laugh that loudly, and have you heard him laugh, he sounds like a barking dog." James said.

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed giving James a hurt look.

"What? Is he your girl friend or something? Besides, laughing is good. I'm proud of my laughter. Laughter is good for the soul and actually improves your health. It's a proven medical fact. And anyways, I like Sirius's laugh, I think it's cute." Becca said, blushing when she realized that the last sentence had actually come out of her mouth. Sirius was blushing now as well, something completely unheard of at Hogwarts.

"Sirius, you're blushing!" Peter exclaimed.

"Am not, it's just a bit warm in here, that's all."

Sirius Black, blushing? Why, that's unusual, and completely unlike him. I wonder if maybe he's changing… wait, this is Sirius I'm talking about, of course he hasn't changed. 'Yeah, just like James hasn't changed' a little voice in my head said. 'Well he hasn't, he's probably just distracted or something' I said back to the little voice. Oh great, now I'm going crazy, that's just what I need.

"Yeah, sure, 'a bit warm in here'. Nice cover Sirius, we all believed that one." James commented.

"No really, it is. As a matter of fact, I think I'll step out side and get some air." Sirius said walking over to the wall with the window on it.

"And how are you going to do that? Are you going to jump out the window? If you are, wait a minute and let me get my camera, this will be priceless." I said smirking at him.

"No, actually I was thinking of going for a bit of a ride on my broom. Anyone care to join me?" Sirius offered as he searched through is pockets for something. "Ah, here it is." He mumbled as he pulled a small tooth pick sized twig out of his pocket.

"That's a little small for you, isn't it?" Rebby said raising an eyebrow.

"Mock me if you will, but one day you'll be in a peck of trouble and wish you had shrunk your broom and put it in your pocket." Sirius pulled out his wand and said the enlarging spell. His broom grew to its proper size and hovered in front of him. "So, anyone coming with me?" he asked.

"I would, but you'd never be able to keep up with me." Becca said.

"On that piece of crap you ride, please. I could ride circles around you."

"Huh, shows what you know, My parents got me a new broom for my birthday. It was a late present, but they said they wanted to let me pick it out." Becca hopped off the bed and walked over to her trunk and pulled out a brand new Blue Lightning and let it hover in the air in front of her. "This baby can fly circles around you with Peter riding on it put me on it and you haven't got a chance." Becca smirked at Sirius, who smirked back at her.

"I do believe that was a challenge." Remus said smiling slightly.

Sirius hesitated. "What are you, afraid? Come on Sirius, show her what's what!" Peter said.

"Now you know it's bad when Peter is calling you a chicken." Rebby said to me.

"Yeah, I know. That's just pathetic." I replied.

"Fine! It's a race! First one to the end of Diagon Alley and back wins!"

"You're on!"

"This could be interesting." James said quietly.

Everyone walked over to the window; I pulled out my wand and enlarged the window so that it was the size of a door. Sirius and Becca mounted their brooms and floated slowly out of the window into the warm night air. They hovered just outside the window.

"We need a balcony or something…" I said noticing that everyone was pushing and shoving so that they could see the race a little better.

"I'll handle it." James said stepping forward, wand in hand. He looked down, then up, then down again at the outside of the wall. "Okay, here we go." James first pointed at some wooden crates in a pile in the alley below us and muttered something under his breath. The crates grew and became a set of stairs, then after another quick mutter they floated up and hovered with the bottom step just level with the bottom of the window. "Lily, if you wouldn't mind casting a permanent sticking charm." He nodded to me.

I blinked at him, then turned and permanently stuck the stairs to the side of the building so that they looked like an odd sort of fire escape. "There you go."

"Thank you." James said, then walked out and climbed the stairs to the second to last one which raised a little above the slant of the roof. Everyone else followed him up part of the ways, then waited. James pointed his wand at another crate on the ground and it rose up to the roof. He mumbled something and the crate was transfigured into a small expanse of wooden planks with railings along the bottom on three sides and two poles sticking up from the top. "Oops, it's upside down." This said he slowly flipped it around so that it was right side up and situated it on the roof so that the top stair was level with the platform he had created.

I blinked in amazement. I knew James was good at transfiguration, but good lord. I realized I was staring with my mouth slightly open and quickly shut it and looked around to see whether or not anyone had seen me. Nope, everyone else was too preoccupied with James's new creation.

"Lily, another permanent sticking charm would be good, if you would?" James requested politely.

James Potter was being polite? That was as unlikely as Sirius Black blushing. What was the world coming too? "Sure." I said lamely and took out my wand again and cast the charm.

"Okay then, everyone aboard!" James said, and everyone jumped over the side of the rail and sat on the platform to watch the race between the two Gryffindor quidditch players.

Sirius and Becca floated up to the platform and situated themselves so that they were even, using the railing of the platform as a starting line. "Who would like to do the honors?"

"Oh! MEMEMEMEME!" Rebby said, well, yelled really, waving her hand in the air like a lunatic.

"Whoa, slow down there you giant hyper pill. You got the job." I said with wide eyes. She was really hyper tonight, which, now that I think about it, is normal for her. Really I should be used to it by now, but when Becca and Rebby went into super hyper mode, it still scares me. It's like they drink a gallon of rocket fuel or something.

Rebby hopped up and climbed back over the rail and went down the stairs. When she came back up she had a pair of bright red boxers with little white hearts on them attached to a pole like a flag.

"Where on earth did you get those?" I asked giggling.

"Oh, out of James's trunk." Rebby said smiling like a Cheshire cat.

"Hey! Haven't you ever heard of invasion of privacy?!" James exclaimed angrily at the site of his underpants attached to a pole, billowing in the wind. I attempted to control my snickering, but I was failing miserably.

"Yup, but I don't really care." Rebby said, still smiling. "Okay. Ready? On your mark, get set, GO!" Rebby waved her improvised flag back and forth and the two teenagers raced off into the distance.

"Can I have my underwear back now?" James said, blushing.

"Um, no."

"Why not?"

"I need to use them as the finish line flag too."

"Can I have them back after that?"

"No."

"I repeat, why not?"

"Blackmail." Rebby grinned mischievously and sat beside me on the platform with a pair of omnioculars firmly fixed to her eyes.

This could be interesting. I'll have to force the plan out of her later tonight. Hopefully it involved thoroughly embarrassing James Potter.

Rebby stood up suddenly. "There they are! They're on their way back and… Sirius is in the lead!"

"Whoa, no way, I thought she'd beat him easy with that broom of hers!" Peter said.

"Wait! She's catching up to him… Oh! Harsh! Sirius just cut her off! Now she's coming around his right side, no she faked and came back around his left! They're neck and neck!" Rebby lowered her omnioculars. "You can see them now! Here they come; this is gonna be a close one too!" She bent and picked up her "flag" and got into her position at the rail. "And in three, two, one FINISH!" she waved the flag like a maniac as both Sirius and Becca zoomed overhead, then banked and flew back and landed on the platform. "The winner is…. Um… could anyone tell who won the race?"

"No, but I recorded the ending on your omnioculars." Remus said holding out the omnioculars to Rebby.

"Thank you Remus." Rebby reviewed the recording three or four times, muttering under her breath while everyone else waited impatiently for her judgment. "It seems that the winner is…" she paused for a dramatic silence while Becca went "Dun, dun duuuuuuunn….."

"The winner is Becca! She beat you by a hair. Her broom stick was just a tad in front of yours." Rebby said. "Now for the prizes! In first place we have Becca Burns, Gryffindor Seeker and all around good flyer, to her goes the race flag, made of one pair of red boxers with white hearts on them, donated by James Potter-

"They were not! You stole them!"

"-And in second place is Sirius Black and to him goes…. a kiss from the winner!"

"HEY!" Becca yelled, glaring at Rebby while trying to pretend she wasn't blushing bright red. Sirius, who was also blushing, started to laugh.

"And _what _do you think is so funny?!" Becca asked, her face turning redder.

"I – you – she – I – " Sirius broke down and collapsed on the platform barking out laughter. I watched him roll around on the floor laughing outrageously and couldn't help myself. I started to giggle as well. I don't know why, I just did. Then Remus and James started to laugh. Then Rebby started laughing, then finally Becca, meeting Sirius for volume. The only person not laughing was Peter who stood there and said "What's so funny?" which made the rest of us laugh even more.

After we had finally calmed ourselves down, I turned to Sirius. "So what was so funny? Why did you start laughing?"

"Huh? Um… well… never mind." Sirius said blushing and scratching the back of his head bashfully. Sirius Black was being bashful, what _is_ the world coming to?

"You're not getting out of it _that_ easily! I want to know what's so funny about-"

"It's none of your business, maybe I'll tell you one day. Now, I do believe the great and wise referee said that you owe me a kiss." Sirius said smiling. It was a real smile too, not the fake ones he gave the skanks at school, or one of the smirks he had when he pulled a prank. A real, true, smile where his eyes sparkled and you could swear the corners of his mouth literally touched his eyes. Dang, he had a nice smile. No wonder all the girls at school chase him around like he's god.

Becca blushed again but stood her ground. "Well, I'm waiting." She said.

"No, _you_ have to kiss _me_."

"Fine!" She huffed then stepped forward to stand directly in front of Sirius, so close that she was nearly touching him. Her eyes flickered over to mine and she winked at me. Suddenly she grabbed Sirius around his waist and shoulders and dipped him like you would in a waltz then gave him a proper kiss on the mouth.

"Talk about you role reversal." James commented with raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, really, usually it's Sirius being the charming one and dipping the girls into a kiss. This is just… backwards…" Remus said, somewhat stunned.

Becca stopped kissing him and pulled him back up from the dip. He blinked a couple of times. Then he opened and closed his mouth a few times making him look like a rather baffled fish. Becca just stood there and smirked at him with this glazed look in her eyes. Then James stepped forward and slapped Sirius across the face.

"Ow. That was unnecessary."

"Sorry mate, but your fish impression is horrible." James said straight faced. This elicited an unpredicted and uncontrolled laugh from me. I had had no intention of laughing, and at the time it had seemed like it had come from someone else entirely. Rebby looked at me strangely and Becca snapped out of her daze to give me a look as well.

"What? I can't laugh at Sirius getting slapped by J-Potter?" They both narrowed their eyes at me, suspicious of my response. "What? Am I growing another head? Am I turning into Luscious Malfoy? What?"

"Hmm… now there's a thought. You turning into Luscious Malfoy… that would be odd… not to mention completely wrong on so many levels." Becca said with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Well, I don't know about you all, but I'm tired. I'm going to go to bed."

"Now that you mention it I'm getting kinda tired too." Becca said yawning.

"Must have been all of that fancy dipping and kissing you just did. That and the race must have just sucked the energy right out of you." Rebby smiled innocently at Becca.

"So what am I supposed to do with Potter's underpants anyways? Keep them as a souvenir? You want me to frame them and mount them on my wall or something?" Becca said raising an eyebrow at Rebby who laughed and responded "I'll tell you later." Then she climbed over the rail and headed down the stairs back to the room. Becca turned to follow her asking "How did you get these anyways?"

Remus rolled his eyes at the two girls and prodded Peter in the side making him walk over to the rail and climb down to the room in front of him. Sirius turned to James and whispered something to him, then walked over to the railing and winked as he made his way down the stairs.

"What was that all about?" I asked.

"Oh? The great Lily Evans deigns to speak to me? How unusual. Usually the only words elicited from your mouth directed at me are curses, curses, or variations of 'get away.' Surely you thought I was someone else?"

"Oh, cut the sarcasm James, I'm sorry I'm not very nice to you, but it's not like you give me much opportunity to be nice. You're constantly in my face asking me out or bloody proposing marriage to me-"

"I only did that once and-"

"- did it never occur to you that maybe if you just left me alone for once I might not yell at you to get the hell away?"

"No, not really, actually. But that's the curse of the male portion of the species, we don't think right when we're in love."

"But you're _not_ in love! That's the point! You barely know me, how can you possibly be in love with me?"

"I don't know, I just am, so get used to it! I have!" Then he grabbed me by the shoulders and kissed me square on the lips before storming off of the platform and down the stairs. I just stood there and stared at where he had disappeared down the stairs. 'Maybe he really does love you' the little voice said. 'Of course he doesn't, it's just a crush, puppy love, and it's nothing serious.' I said back and lay on my back on the platform looking up at the stars. Everything just seemed so much simpler up there. The stars just floated around in the night sky, hung out with the moon and the sun and all of the other planets. They didn't have to worry about whether or not some guy was actually in love with them. 'He doesn't.' I said firmly to the little voice. 'He most definitely does not love me. He just thinks he does. It's only puppy love, nothing serious.' I reassured myself. 'Nothing serious at all.'

But oh how wrong I was.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 4**

While I severely doubt I'm half as charming as everyone seems to think I am, I do have a bit of a flair for the wooing of pretty girls. I seem to have a natural instinct for knowing what a girl wants to hear at any given moment, especially if I know something about her. Add that to my inability to let people down, and you'll find a long line of ex-girlfriends whose hearts I've broken and whose friends I've infuriated. Sirius congratulates me regularly on being able to get dates with some of the best girls in school, by which he means the prettiest girls in school. Peter finds my luck with girls incredible and asks me regularly how I manage it. Remus tends to just shake his head and give me a sad, pitying look or tell me I'm a complete dolt. A lot of the time I find myself agreeing with Remus more than the rest.

Of course, there is one girl I've set my sights on who I've never been able to get a date with. She's the only girl for whom I've truly felt that pull of both heart and soul that many call love. Sirius says I'm insane, and that she's not all that, and Remus says that she will be the only thing that saves me from myself someday, if I get my head out of my arse.

For the past five years I've tried to at least be her friend. For the past three years I've tried to get her to go out on a date with me. Last year I became, well, desperate, and asked her to either marry me or shoot me and put me out of my misery just before the train pulled into the station at Kings Cross. Needless to say, she didn't take to kindly to being randomly proposed to on the last day of school and told me to drop dead.

This year, I've decided to try to persuade her into a date a different way; by being completely indifferent to her. I've promised myself that, no matter what, I'm not going to chase after her intentions. I'm not going to ask her out once a day, or once a week, or even once a month. I've have decided that I need to be more serious and behave like a man in love, and not a child with a school yard crush.

So far the strategy seems to be working. Tonight I have spent more time with Lily Evans and her friends than in all five of our years at school combined. I couldn't help but argue with her, she just doesn't understand how much I care for her. When I kissed her it was my attempt at saying 'I'm sorry' for being such an arse for five years and for arguing with her, while at the same time trying to convey to her the depth of my love for her. I don't think it really worked, but I sure felt better for trying.

After I kissed her I ran down the stairs and through the girl's room as fast as my feet could carry me. I ran all the way to my and Sirius's room and jumped into bed and tried to go to sleep. It didn't work. I ended up lying awake on my back staring at the ceiling until Sirius and Remus came into the room with worried looks on their faces.

"You alright mate?" Sirius asked with slight apprehension.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said back grumpily.

"Really? Because you don't look fine. You look like you've just seen a ghost, if you'll pardon the muggle cliché. And you ran through the girl's room so fast that the ground caught fire in your wake. Now tell us what's the matter so we can help." Remus said sitting beside me on the bed. I sat up and looked and him and Sirius; both had a look of genuine worry in their eyes.

"I kissed her." Was all I managed to get out.

"You kissed who?" Sirius asked dumbly.

"I kissed _her_. I kissed _Lily_, you imbecile."

"Oh."

"James, tell me you didn't. I thought the plan was to lay low and _not_ make a move on her. To act like a grown up for once." Remus said.

"Well, I was. I mean, I controlled myself and my big mouth all night, and then we were standing there and she looked so beautiful and we were arguing and you know how gorgeous she is when she's mad and I just couldn't help myself. I caved."

"You are so pathetic when you talk about her. You're like a whining little baby."

"Sirius! A little sympathy here? Just because you're immune to all feeling when it comes to girls doesn't mean that everyone is. Which reminds me, if I have anything to say about it, you're going to change the way you treat girls this year."

"Oh, really? And how are you going to force that to come about?"

"I'm going to sabotage your dates until you figure out exactly why I'm doing it."

"What? I doubt that that will work."

"I wouldn't doubt anything Remus plans Sirius, you know he's the mastermind behind all of our pranks, he may look sweet and innocent on the outside, but on the inside he's a devious master of trickery and jokes."

"Oh, right, I knew that. Wait, weren't we consoling you?" Sirius asked me.

"Anyways, James, what happened after you kissed her?"

"Nothing. I took off like a bat out of hell and hoped she wouldn't hate me forever. That is, if she doesn't already."

"Well, you should probably apologize, girls like it when guys admit they're wrong, even when they aren't. It's one of those weird girl things."

"Okay." I looked around and realized that Peter was no where to be found. "Hey, where's Peter?"

"He went to bed just before you came back down from the balcony thing. That reminds me, good job with that spell. I think you may have impressed her, and that's always good. Just don't flash it around in her face. Be cool about it if she compliments you and if she doesn't don't bring it up."

"Got it."

"Well, I think that about wraps it up. I'm off to bed." Sirius stood up and started for the door, then stopped and turned around. "Wait, this is my room. Remus, go away so I can sleep."

"Yes oh great master Sirius. Oh course master. How could I ever disobey you master?" Remus said pretending to bow down to Sirius as he backed out of the room.

"Ha-ha, very funny, next time you want to mimic a house elf you might want to shrink and grow bigger ears. Oh, wait, never mind, you don't need to."

"Thank you very much. I've always wanted to be called short and big eared." Remus laughed. "Good night."

"Night Remus."

"Night man."

"So what are we doing tomorrow Sirius?"

"Well, Becca asked if we wanted to hang out with them in Diagon alley tomorrow."

"Sounds cool." Sirius nodded his head as he changed his clothes and got into bed.

"Good night Prongs."

"Night Pad."

I stayed up late that night, I couldn't sleep, and I was too worried about whether or not I had ruined my chances with Lily. I really hoped I hadn't. It would be a shame to end something before it ever began. Eventually I floated off into dream land, hoping with all my heart that I hadn't screwed myself over with one little kiss.

The next morning I was woken up by a feminine screech and yell of "RAT!" coming from the girl's room down the hall. Sirius and I sat straight up at the same time and gave each other what must have been similar looks of horror. "He wouldn't…?" I asked.

"He would." Sirius said, his horror changing to one of genuine mischief. Sirius and I both jumped out of bed and ran down the hall in our pajama pants with out shirts or socks and almost without my glasses. When we got to the girls room we were just in time to see the three of the rushing out of the room at the urgency of Lily, who seemed to have a certain dislike of small rodents. They too were in their pajamas, and thankfully in their case it included shirts, otherwise there would have been one really awkward moment.

"What's the matter?" I asked, trying not to snicker at the sight of Lily, Becca, and Rebby half asleep in their pajamas in the hallway. Remus walked calmly up behind Sirius and I fully clothed. "And how long have you been up? You're already dressed."

"I've been up since about seven. I couldn't sleep." Remus gave me a look and I immediately knew why he couldn't sleep the night before. It was 'the change'. No, not menopause, Remus isn't a middle aged woman. It was the other change; the change into a werewolf. Remus has been a werewolf since he was around seven years old. It's been tough on him, and would have been worse if it weren't for the help and support of his friends, namely Sirius, Peter and I. Poor kid hadn't even had friends until he met us on the train that day. Neither had Sirius apparently, but why he hadn't I don't know. He won't tell me, won't tell anyone. All I know is it has something to do with his family and that wretched cousin of his, Bellatrix. Peter had had friends, but none of them were real friends. They had simply used him for his stuff and his money and to take the brunt of their jokes and insults. Talk about your unhealthy childhoods. I, myself, had had a few friends, but none who lived close enough to play with more than once a month or so. I always seemed to make friends with the kids that lived in places like India and Australia and Costa Rica and Mexico. I even made friends with an Inuit whose family was visiting London for a week once.

"THERE WAS A BLOODY RAT IN OUR ROOM!" Lily screamed. I raised an eyebrow at her. If there was one thing I didn't think Lily would be, it was afraid of a rat. However, I have been known to be wrong on occasion.

"Was it a rat covered in blood, or just a bloody rat?" Sirius asked, attempting a feeble joke. That was a bad idea.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Lily screamed at Sirius. "GET YOUR ARSE IN THERE AND KILL THE BLOODY THING!" this time she screamed in my direction and shoved me into her room closing the door behind me.

"Yes, of course, I'd love to kill the rat for you." I rolled my eyes and began looking around for the rat, which at this point I was guessing was Peter since it was incredibly unlikely that he was still sleeping in his room with the ruckus Lily was making in the hallway. "Here Peter, Peter, Peter. Come out little Peter. I know your in here Pete-y just come out already, would you?"

A small lumpy brown rat scampered out from under Lily's bed and stopped at my feet. It looked up at me and seemed to shrug in innocence. "Yeah, well, we'll talk about why you're in here later, for now, hop in my hand and play dead. Make sure you lay absolutely still. Actually, scratch that, I'll just petrify you, it's easier. Petrificus Totalis." I waved my wand, the only thing other than my glasses to make it out of my room with me, at Peter the rat and he went completely still. I bent over and picked him up by the tail and carried him out the door.

"It's safe to go in now your highness. No more icky little rats to disturb your sleep." I smirked and Lily gave me a fleeting glare.

"Are you sure it's dead?" he asked.

"Would you like to poke it yourself and find out?"

"Erm, no thank you. I'll pass. Get rid of it, will you, it's gross."

"Yes majesty, right away majesty. Is there anything else I can do for you, majesty?"

"Yes. Stop acting like an arse and get dressed before I call the house guards on you." She smiled at me for a moment, taking my half naked self. Well, that's what I get for not putting on a shirt before I left the room. I get ogled by pretty girls. I think I can live with that. Maybe I should go shirtless all the time. I took a deep bow and started down the hall with the peter-rat in hand. "And James?" She called down the hall after me "Thank you." She gave me a genuine smile and disappeared into her room. I gave myself a moment to melt and let the gooeyness inside take over for a moment. Then I pulled myself together and unpetrified Peter and made him walk back to his room.

"Now, Peter" I started as we got back into mine and Sirius's room, "Why exactly were you in the girls room in rat form, may I ask?"

"Um, well… I… um… was j-just in there t-to get my w-wand, s-see? I l-left it there last n-night…" Peter stumbled over his words.

"Really? And I thought you were peaking on the girls in their nighties…" Sirius said the hint of laughter in his voice.

I threw a glare in Sirius's direction. "Not funny, Sirius, and don't encourage him."

"We used to do stuff like this all the time Prongs. Why so tough on Pete-y boy now?"

"Because we aren't little eleven year old boys anymore and while it was an amusing joke back then, now it's inappropriate. It's not… right! You can't go around sneaking into girl's rooms and spying on them. It's perverted."

"Um, James, I hate to point this out to you but we're guys… we're perverted anyways…"

"Yeah, but they're thoughts, not actions, that's different."

"Um…"

"Okay, we don't act on them until we're at the appropriate point in a relationship with the person in question."

"The point is he shouldn't have been in there and he was!" I threw Peter an icy glare.

"S-sorry…?" Peter stuttered.

"Not good enough!"

"Prongs, take it easy on him. I'm sure he didn't mean any harm by it, did you Peter?" Remus intervened. "Why don't you go get your clothes changed Peter?"

Peter skittered out of the room like, well, a rat running from a cat. My stare followed him all the way out of the room. That bloody git had been in their room spying on Rebby and Becca and my Lily, I ought to….

"James, let him off the hook, you've scared him near to death already anyways." Remus said, ever the one keeping me from kicking someone's ass.

"Fine, but if he brings it up I'll not be held responsible for my actions." I said grudgingly. I turned and walked to my trunk and began digging around in it for a clean red t-shirt, jeans, underwear, and socks. Remus whispered something to Sirius then turned and left the room. I had everything I needed except for a clean pair of underwear. I could have sworn I'd packed one more pair of boxers… Oh cripes. I smacked the heel of my hand to my forehead.

"Now James I know your upset, but hurting yourself is not the answer." Sirius joked from the foot of his bed where he too was digging out clean clothes to change into. gave Sirius a look that said 'not now' and headed for the door.

"Where are you going, mate?" Sirius asked off handedly.

"I have to go beg Rebby to give me back my bloody boxers." I replied, closing the door behind me. I walked down the hall to the girl's room and stood in front of the door to their room trying to figure out what I could say to get back my underpants. Nope, nothing there, oh well… I knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" someone called from the other side of the door.

"It's James." I yelled back. The door swung open to reveal Lily with a towel on her head. Becca was using her wand to magically dry and straighten her hair while Rebby was gathering her clothes and heading in the direction of the shower.

"What's up?" Lily asked. She looked at my chest. "Still no shirt I see."

Oops, I forgot to put on a shirt again. "Still enjoying the view I see." Lily blushed and stopped scanning my torso. Hey, she's blushing, that's good, right?

"Was there something you needed?" she asked.

"I need my underpants back."

"Why would I have your- oh, right. Becca, what did you do with James's underwear?"

"Underwear? What underwear?" She flashed us an innocent grin. Lily raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh, those underwear. I hid them away where he'll never think to look for them because he can't have them back."

"Why can't I have them back?"

"You'll see. Wear a different pair of unders today, I need those."

"All of my other underwear is dirty."

"Clean them."

"I don't know how."

"So have Lily, do it, she's great at the domestic charms."

"Uh-uh, I'm not having Lily clean my dirty underpants."

"Then you'll have to go with out or figure it out on your own I suppose."

"But… can I please have my underwear back?"

"NO. Now go away, we're trying to get dressed here."

Lily began closing the door "See you in a bit. Good luck with the underwear." She seemed way to pleased with herself right now. The door closed in my face and I was forced to walk back to my room underwear-less.

"Get your boxers back?"

"Nope."

"That sucks."

"Yup."

"I'd offer but... gross."

"Yup."

"You showering first?"

"Sure."

Sirius and I are best friends, might as well be brothers. We share almost everything, but we draw the line at underwear. Most of our conversations are full on half spoken sentences and one word answers too. We just know each other so well the rest is unnecessary. Remus finds this amusing because he's sharp enough to keep up. Peter finds it irritating because he never knows what's going on. Our teachers want to slap us when we work together in class because they think we're talking gibberish and trying to be funny. Girls think it's cute and call it the 'freaky twin thing', even though Sirius and I are definitely not twins. I mean, I suppose there is a certain resemblance, but twins? I think not.

I picked up my clothes and the toiletries bag my good ole mom had packed for me and headed for the small private bathroom connected to our room. By the time I was out of the shower I had come up with a solution to my underpants problem: manual labor. I'd wash them by hand and use a hair drying spell on them or a heat spell to get them dry. After successfully cleaning a pair of underpants I got dressed and wandered out into the hallway. Sirius was getting dressed, as was Peter. Remus was reading a book, as per usual. I wandered over to the girl's room and knocked on their door.

"Anyone home in there?" I yelled when there was no response to my knock. I knocked again louder, and yelled once more. "Well, I'm coming in then." I yelled. I opened the door to an empty room. The window-door was open though, so I stepped out onto the stairs and walked up to the balcony. "There you are." I said upon seeing the girls all lounging on deck chairs.

"How did you get up here?" Rebby asked.

"Well I was standing on the street below and a sudden breeze just happened to blow me up here by accident. How do you think I got up here, the stairs."

"No, how did you get in our room to get to the stairs."

"Oh, the door was unlocked."

"So you just let yourself in?" Lily asked with raised eyebrows. Yeah, she was getting a little upset.

"No. Well, yes. See, I knocked a few times first. Then I yelled through the door. Then I took a chance and tried the door knob and what do you know, it opened."

"Hmm…" Lily narrowed her eyes at me.

"It's the honest truth, I swear. Though now that I think about it I should have looked for my boxers while I was down there and you were unawares of my presence."

"Wouldn't have mattered if you did. You'll never find them where we've put them. Will he Becca?" Rebby said shaking her head with an expression of mock sadness on her face.

"Nope, he sure won't." Becca grinned evilly and leaned back in her chair.

"Great… Well, the guys are about ready to go. Are you all ready?"

"Yeah! Let's get a move on! I didn't get to go in quality quidditch supplies yet or that new book store. Plus I can't wait to go get some new art supplies!" Becca practically bounced from her chair all the way to the bottom of the stairs. The girl was so excited and hyper she was practically vibrating with energy. Rebby and Lily followed, in a little less bouncy, yet enthusiastic manner. I followed after them laughing at Becca as she nearly walked into the glass of the window-door in her excitement.

After I had gathered the other three marauders, the seven of us wandered down the stairs, through the pub, and into the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley. We immediately headed to the nearest café for some breakfast. After we were sufficiently stuffed, we took off in search of something fun to do. We ended up in Quality Quidditch Supplies. This store was a good choice for our group considering ¾ of us were on the team. I'm a chaser, as are Lily and Rebby, Becca is our seeker, and Sirius is one of the beaters. Sirius is especially good at his position when we're playing the Slytherin's. He says this is because those games are more exciting, I say it's because he gets the opportunity to hit a bludgers at his cousin, Bellatrix Black, who is a Chaser for Slytherin. Remus and Peter enjoy playing quidditch too, but Remus has his monthly visits with the moon to contend with and prefers his books anyways. He's not exactly the athletic type either. And Peter, well, Peter just sucks at quidditch and flying in general.

We browsed through the shop for a while before heading for the counter to purchase our selected items. I bought some new gloves and some polish for my broom. Rebby and Becca bought a large square object that they insisted on keeping covered and not allowing any of us to see. Lily bought a little necklace with a broom on it she had found on one of the racks. Remus, Peter and Sirius didn't buy anything. We wandered out of the store and down to Madame Maulkin's where Sirius, Remus and Peter needed to get fitted for new robes. I had already gotten mine last week when mum came to Diagon Alley for some Flesh Eating Slug Repellant for her garden. Instead I went with Lily, Rebby, and Becca to get some ice cream while we waited for the others to get their robes. No sooner had we sat down with our ice cream than a 5'5" tall girl with bright blue-green eyes and shoulder length hair that started a dark dirty blonde on top and faded to a white blonde at the tips.

"Hey Rach, did you get a new hair cut?" I asked her.

"Hey James. Yeah, I got it cut a little shorter and had them give me side-bang-thingies. I had some layers put into it too."

"Cool. It looks nice."

"Thank you. Um, have you seen Remus here anywhere? Did he come with you and-" Rachel paused for a moment "Lily? Since when do you hang out with James?"

"Since never and a day ago. I tripped down the stairs last night and cause a people avalanche. He and the Marauders were our landing pad, though I did end up on the bottom somehow…" Lily responded.

"Well it's not my fault you hit me so hard I practically did a full front flip before landing."

"Whatever, Potter. Remus is getting his robes fitted in Madame Maulkins with Peter and Sirius."

"Thanks Lily, I'll probably see you around later. Bye!" Rach yelled over her shoulder as she bounced off in the direction of the store.

"What was that all about?" Becca asked "Are they going out or something?"

"No, I don't think so. Unless it's a recent thing and Moony hasn't gotten around to telling us yet. Of course, I'm not exactly the group gossip, that's Peters job. He's good at getting into conversations without actually being noticed. It's kind of creepy sometimes."

"Why do you call him that?" Becca asked. Lily looked down at the table and started fidgeting with her ice cream spoon.

"Why do I call who what?" I replied, trying to figure out why Lily had reacted to Becca's question like that.

"Why do you call Remus Moony? What's the significance of the nickname?" Becca elaborated on her question.

"Oh, um, well, I'm not sure he'd want me to tell you. The reason we each have our particular nickname is kind of a secret. That is, we're not supposed to tell anyone unless the entire group approves. I guess you could say it's kind of a club rule kind of thing. Though, the "Marauders" isn't exactly a club, it's more a way of life." I replied.

"Interesting… Who wants to go look around in the book store?" Lily stood up and grabbed her small bag and purse.

"What book store?" I looked around. I definitely hadn't seen a bookstore earlier.

"That bookstore." Lily pointed to an extremely thin and extremely tall rectangle that constituted as the store front. It was so thin that I was sure it was impossible for there to be room for an actual store inside.

"Sounds good to me." I shrugged my shoulders and stood up.

"Yeah, we'll meet you in there in a little bit. We're going to go put our, um, bag in our room. Want us to take yours with us too, Lils?" Becca asked.

"Yeah, sure." Lily handed over her bag to Becca.

"We could take yours too if you like James." Rebby offered.

"Yeah, okay. Just leave it in your room though, I don't trust you two enough to give you a key to my room. Next thing you know you'll be "borrowing" another pair of my boxers." I laughed at the pretend looks of hurt on the girls faces and handed over my bag to them.

"Okay, well, see you later!" The two girls ran off like a couple of hares being chased by a hound, which, I assume, is fast. I've never actually seen a hare being chased by a hound. The point is they ran off quickly. I turned to Lily and gestured towards the incredibly small building in front of us.

"Shall we?" I asked.

"I believe we shall." She replied and led the way into the building. I followed her slowly, admiring the view. What? I'm a guy, so sue me.

I held the door open for Lily and followed her in. The bookstore was a lot bigger inside than it was on the outside. While the outside had made it seem barely big enough to be a closet, the inside was huge, practically big enough to swallow two of the great hall. The ceiling was at least twenty feet high and two large curved staircases led up to the second floor. The entire store had rows upon rows of books stacked neatly on shelves. There were large blue and black signs hovering over the different rows of shelves with the type of book in the row glowing in bright neon green light in the center. Lily and I looked at each other with wide eyes, both caught in amazement at the size of the place. Then Lily's look of amazement turned into one of utter joy. She was smiling so brilliantly at the sight of so many books all in one place that I thought if she didn't explode from joy, I just might. Merlin she's so beautiful when she smiles. Bad James, no being mushy, it'll make you want to kiss her, and you know how that turned out. Wait, she hadn't even said anything about it. She seemed to be pretending 'the kiss' had never happened. That's interesting.

"So, where to first? I'm pretty sure they have literally everything in this store." I asked her.

"I don't know. Let's check out the spells section, I'm trying to find some good books on defense." Lily replied, still smiling at the grandness of the store.

"So beautiful…" I sighed.

"What?" Lily asked me.

"Um, oh, nothing. Let's do that."

"Okay." She took off at a run looking for the right section, I followed easily behind her. I have always been a fast runner. I could run circles around a cheetah at full speed. Okay, maybe not a cheetah, but definitely Peter, maybe even Remus or Sirius. Lily stopped suddenly in front of me and I nearly ran her over trying to stop. "Here are the spells." She said and began browsing through the particular section of rows trying to find the defensive spells.

"So, why are you looking for books on defensive spells?"

"Rebby, Becca and I are trying to learn some new spells, things we won't learn in class, just in case this guy, Voldemort or whatever, actually gains some power. We want to be prepared, just in case. Plus, Becca and Rebby are studying to become Aurors. And Mikki, our other friend, she's visiting her grandmother in Germany or something, so she couldn't come here with us. Well, Mikki and I are studying to become healers, and we have to take advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts for that, probably to reverse curses and such." She answered.

"Your studying to become a healer?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, nothing really. I imagine you'd be a really good healer. I've just never thought about it before. You as a healer, I like it." I smiled softly at her as I imagined her in a Healer uniform at St. Mungo's healing a curse victim or shooing some little first years out of the Infirmary at Hogwarts. Yeah, she'd be a great healer; she had the talent and the right attitude for it.

Lily was blushing now. Blushing is good, though I suppose this is flirting, and flirting falls under the 'chasing Lily' column. I'm not supposed to be chasing her right now. Oh shoot. I cleared my throat and mentally shook myself out of it. "Sirius and I are trying to become either Aurors or professional quidditch players. We refused to choose one or the other until the beginning of this year. We told Dumbledore we'd wait until the beginning of the year to tell him."

"Why are you waiting?"

"We want to see if this Voldemort character is going to keep getting stronger. If he is, if no one can catch him soon, they're going to need all of the Aurors they can get their hands on at the ministry."

Lily nodded her head gravely. "Yes, I know. I have a bad feeling about this guy. Sometimes I have these dreams…" she stopped herself and shook her head. "But, anyways, that's why we're in this particular section, so let's get to it."

The two of us got down to business and searched through six or seven aisles of books on how to defend your self magically. By the time we had finished we had a stack of about twenty books to sort through and find just the right ones to actually buy. In the end we had five books that seemed extremely promising. We were headed for the counter to buy the books when we passed by a row with the words 'Self Defense' hovering over it. I stopped and went into the aisle looking at the titles on the different books. They were all about different types of defensive fighting styles. Books on Karate, Taekwondo, Kung fu, Judo, Jujutsu, wrestling, boxing, and even fencing, lined the shelves.

"James? Where'd you go?" Lily yelled from a couple aisles back.

"I'm over here." I yelled back, selecting a book on Taekwondo and flipping through the pages. Lily walked up behind me and looked over my shoulder.

"What did you find?" she asked.

"Some books on martial arts. Maybe learning to defend ourselves without wands would be helpful as well. That way, if a death eater managed to get our wands away from us, we could still kick his, uh, butt." I picked up another book on fencing. "And learning how to sword fight would just be fun in general."

"You're such a guy." She said, rolling her eyes. But never the less she browsed through the aisle with me and we ended up with a couple books of instruction on fencing, Taekwondo, and basic boxing and wrestling. We then proceeded to the checkout counter.

"I'll pay for all of these books if you let Sirius, Remus, Peter and I into your little study group." I offered.

"I can't let you do that, these books cost way too much."

"You forget, I'm rich, I can afford it."

"Oh, right, well then, you can buy all of them except this one, and you can join our study sessions if you promise me two things." She said.

"Okay, what are they?"

"One, you can't come and then just joke around all the time, or I'll kick you out."

"Yes ma'am." I gave her a military salute.

"Two, you can never, _never_ tell anyone except the other guys where we practice. Got it?"

"Why not?"

"You just can't, okay? You'll get a full explanation when we get to school and the girls and I show you the room. You'll understand then. You can't put it on that map of yours either." She said full of seriousness.

"Okay, I promise, and I'll make sure the guys promise as well. Wait, how did you find out about the map?"

"Oh, I was curious as to why you four were always so tired on the weekends and stuff, so I stayed up late one night and saw you sneaking out. Then I was curious as to how you evaded all of the teachers and prefects, so I took to listening in on your conversations, and heard about the map. It sounds interesting. I wouldn't mind getting a good look at it someday."

"Really? And I thought you just wanted to scold me repeatedly about being an inconsiderate prat."

"Well, that too."

"The map is back in my trunk in the Leaky Cauldron. I'll get it out later and you can have a look at it if you like. Did you tell the girls about it yet?"

"No, I was going to , but I decided they didn't need to know. Plus, they would have wanted to use it to blackmail you into, er…, never mind."

"Into what?"

"Oh, nothing, just suffice it to say, it would have been either embarrassing for you, or very embarrassing for me."

"Hmm…"

"Let's go see if the boy's are finished getting their robes. They should be finished by now."

"Okay…" I said eyeing her suspiciously. She had changed that topic awfully fast.

We raced to the door of the bookstore, her with a small bag containing a random book she had found by some guy named Ken Follet, me with two huge bags full of heavy books on defense. Somehow, I still managed to win, don't ask me how. I collapsed just outside the bookstore on a bench and lay on my back breathing hard, practically wheezing.

"Um, are you okay? Do I need to call a healer for you or something?" Rachel walked over and raised an eyebrow at me. She looked over at Lily who was bent over breathing hard and laughing at the same time. "Maybe I should call on for her too; I think she may be going insane."

"No, I'm sure they're fine." Remus said stepping in beside her.

"Perhaps we should take him to a veterinarian, just in case."

"Pad, he's not a dog, like you."

"No, but he is a deer, and it's deer season, maybe he got shot."

Remus rolled his eyes and sat on my chest like I wasn't even there. "You know, you could be onto something there. Maybe he did get shot. Except he's not in the woods, and things like that don't usually happen in the middle of Diagon Alley."

Sirius sat down on my stomach next to Remus. "True. Maybe he's having an asthma attack. Do you have asthma James?" Sirius and Remus both looked down at my head, which was felt like it was going to explode. I tried to respond, but all that came out was a small wheezing breath. My mouth moved around soundlessly, a bit like a fish on dry land. Not good, too much weight on my chest and stomach. No air going in, no air going out. Head exploding. Sight fading. Darkness.

"GET OFF HIM YOU IDIOTS! HE CAN'T BREATH!" I heard Lily yell faintly. The weight was off of me suddenly, but it was too late, and I slipped into the blackness anyways.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 5**

The next thing I felt was a rhythmic and even pressure on my chest, someone was counting "eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen…" Then there was a pressure on my lips and I felt wonderful air enter my lungs again. I coughed and then breathed again, taking in huge gasping breaths. I never thought I'd miss air that much. The world suddenly came back to me, that is, the blackness lifted from my eyes and I could see again. And what was the first thing I saw? Lily's beautiful face hovering over mine, just inches away from mine, looking down on me with a worried expression. She smiled as she realized I was awake and breathing. A tear fell from her eye and she attacked me with a huge hug, holding me so tight I thought I might pass out again. It was like she was trying to keep me there by pure force of will.

"Lily, um, as nice as it is to have you finally holding me, um, I'm having a bit of trouble breathing here." I managed to get out.

"Oh, sorry." She said, standing up from the ground where she had been kneeling before. I sat up slowly and turned and sat on the bench like a normal person would. There was a small crowd gathered around the bench that was slowly dispersing now that the action was over. Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Rachel were all standing next to the bench with worried and relieved looks on their unnaturally pale faces.

"What's wrong with you lot? You look like someone just died."

"Hey guys, what's going on? What's with the crowd?" Rebby asked as she and Becca walked up to the bench.

"James… breathing… stopped… died… Lily…" Peter stuttered.

"What is this moron talking about? And why are you all so pale? And why is Lily crying?"

"James and I were racing to the exit of the bookstore, and he collapsed onto the bench afterwards because he was out of breath, then Remus and Sirius sat on him, they were joking around and…" Lily started.

"And then James turned bright red and purple, and he couldn't breath. We thought he was joking, and then Lily shoved the two of them off of him, yelling that he couldn't breathe. James stopped breathing all together and passed out or something. We were all freaking out but Lily, she…" Rachel continued.

"She just knelt down and started giving him CPR. Then he started breathing again and…" Remus said.

"She saved him." Sirius finished. "We nearly bloody killed our best friend and she bloody saved him." Sirius pounced on Lily and gave her a huge hug before she even knew what was going on. He picked her up and spun her around. "You wonderful, wonderful woman, you saved him!" Sirius said. He gave her a kiss on both cheeks as he sat her back on her feet.

"Um, you're welcome?" Lily said, slightly in shock.

"I told you you'd be a wonderful healer." I said giving her a proud smile. "Thank you, very much Lily." I said appreciatively. I tried to stand up to give her a hug as well, but I got really dizzy and fell back onto to the bench. Lily was at my side in an instant playing nurse, making sure I wasn't going to fall over or pass out again. Checking my pulse (where did she learn how to do that?), and making sure I was comfortable.

"You shouldn't try to stand up for a while. You need to rest for a bit. We should probably take you back to the rooms so you can sit and rest. You're heart beat is regular, that's good. And you seem to be breathing regularly now too. The color is coming back into your face as well, that's always a good sign." Lily stood up from the bench and offered me her hand. "Come on, I'll help you back to the room. Up you go." She helped me stand up and I nearly fell back into the bench again, but she caught my weight on her shoulder and, with some help from Sirius, helped me walk back to the room.

By the time we had reached the Leaky Cauldron, I could practically walk on my own, though I was still a bit dizzy, and all Lily had to really do was lead me and make sure I didn't walk into a wall or something stupid like that. I had developed a horrible head ache, my brain felt like it was about to split my skull open and leak onto the floor through my ears. Sounds gross, huh? Well, just think how it feels. Yeah 'Ouch' doesn't even begin to cover it. Lily led me through the pub and up the stairs to my room where she had me sit up in my bed and lean back against some pillows.

"It's better for you to sit up; it's harder to breath on your back." She explained. She took my pulse again and asked me if I needed anything.

"You know, you're going to hate me for saying this, but I might as well take advantage of my current pity-worthy status and say it. You're kind of cute when you worry over people."

Lily stopped and looked at me. Everyone else looked at me, then her, then me again, then her and waited for her to bite my head off. But she didn't.

"Well, I'll let it go this once, seeing as you nearly became a paraplegic today." Lily said fidgeting with the edge of the sheet. "Now, do you need anything? How do you feel?"

"Um, my head hurts, and my throat is a bit dry." I said, somewhat stunned. Everyone else was stunned too; every single one of them stood there with their mouths hanging open.

Lily walked over to a table by the window and poured me a glass of water and handed it to me. "I'll be right back." She said and disappeared from the room.

"What the hell? Lily's acting strange." Rebby said.

"Yeah really. Normally she'd beat him senseless, regardless of his condition, for saying something like that, or at least yell at him and storm off." Becca added.

"Maybe she just feels sorry for him; I mean we did nearly kill him." Remus said scratching the back of his head guiltily.

"I think she's got a secret crush on James." Peter said from out of no where.

"Peter, shut up, you're a moron."

"Sorry Sirius."

"Maybe she's sick or something." Becca said.

"Maybe she bumped her head when no one was looking and she's gone insane." Rebby speculated.

"Maybe you're a load of idiots. Ever think that maybe she's smart enough to realize that someone almost died and put her differences behind her to help someone?" I spoke up. "Just because she hates me most of the time doesn't mean she can't act professional when she needs to. That's why she'll make a good healer. She knows how to act calmly in a bad situation, analyze a problem quickly and fix it. She knows how to be fair and knows her priorities. She wouldn't just let someone die, no matter who they were, if she could help it. That's why I know she'll be a great healer. It's in her nature to help people."

"Um…" Rebby said, not sure what she should actually say. Becca just sort of blinked at him. Remus smirked at me and Peter looked shocked for some reason.

"Yeah, yeah, mate, we know you love her. Stop rubbing it in."

"Rubbing what in?" I asked.

"The fact that you've found the perfect girl for you, and we haven't."

"Maybe you have and you're just too blind to see it, Sirius." I replied, glancing at Becca. Well, maybe he didn't love her, but last night I could tell he liked her, and that it was a different kind of like. He feels for her more seriously than he did all of the others, I just know it. I am his best friend after all, practically his brother. It's my job to know these kinds of things. Everyone was silent for a couple of minutes.

"Okay, take two of these with your water." Lily said as she walked back into the room. She stopped and looked around. "Why are you all so quiet?"

"Sirius was just making an ass of himself is all. Now what are these things you're trying to kill me with?"

"They won't kill you." She said, rolling her eyes and handing me the little red and yellow pills. "They're muggle medicine for pain, called Tylenol; we mainly use them for headaches, but they work for almost any pain. They're kind of like the potion Madam Pomfry gives you, but you don't have to brew them first and they take a few minutes to start working. Just pop them in your mouth and swallow them with your water really quickly."

I did as she said. The pills tasted worse than the potion Madame Pomfry, the new school Healer, gave us. I drank the rest of the water trying to get the taste out of my mouth. Then I turned to the rest of the group.

"So," I started "How was your day?"

"Pretty average until you decided to try and die on us Prongs." Sirius said.

"We're sorry about that, by the way." Remus apologized.

"Oh, please, you think I'd let you two kill me? Nah, I'm saving that right for Lily." I winked at her. To hell with the plan, I feel weird not flirting with Lily. It's just unnatural for me not to flirt with her. "So, Rachel, what did you need with Remus?"

"Oh, um, well, I…" Rachel stuttered.

"She wanted to ask me about something about the summer homework. I asked her out after I answered her question for her. She said yes." Remus smiled proudly and rocked forward on his toes. He seemed to literally grow from his happiness right there in front of my eyes.

"Good for you two!" I congratulated them.

"Way to go moony!" Sirius said.

"So now that we're dating do I get to know why they call you Moony?" Rachel asked. The girls leaned forward, as if trying to hear a non existent whisper. Remus looked kind of horrified for a moment and looked at me out of the corner of his eye. Sirius and Peter both sort of shuffled around in place and tried not to look at Remus or the girls.

"He's not allowed to say. It's a Marauder Secret. None of us can tell you why we have our names. It would ruin the effect."

"What effect? All it does is confuse people."

"Exactly. Now you're catching on, Lils." I smirked at her.

Lily glared at me for a moment "Don't call me that."

"Your friends call you that."

"You're not my friend; you're not allowed to call me that."

"What can I call you?"

"You can call me Evans. You can call me Lily when you're going to act like an adult. You are never to call me 'Lils', 'Lily flower' or anything of that nature got it?"

"Yes ma'am. Can we still be in your defense study group?"

"Yes, if you behave yourself."

"What defense study group?" Remus piped in, his eyes alight with the thought of studying. What a geek. But that's why I love him. Like a brother or a friend of course, loving him the other way would just be weird.

"We'll behave ourselves."

"We're letting them in the study group?" Rebby said incredulously.

"Yes, if they behave like adults."

"We will, already, we will."

"You better." Lily wagged a finger of warning at me.

"Why are we joining a study group?" Sirius asked. "I'm acing Defense, and I don't even pay attention or study as it is."

"That's because you're weird Sirius. You absorb stuff." Remus said rolling his eyes.

"James does it too."

"James occasionally opens a book and pays attention."

"He does? James! You've been studying! I'm so disappointed in you." Sirius shook his head.

"I was looking up some stuff we didn't learn in class. You know, stuff we can't do without thinking about it for two seconds."

"Oh, you've been sneaking into the restricted section again haven't you?"

"No, I got the books out of the normal section in the library. That reminds me, Lily and I bought some books on defense for the study group. We got some spell books and a few books on martial arts. We thought it would be good to learn how to defend ourselves without a wand. You know, in case someone manages to get it away from us."

"You said 'we' so much in reference you and Lily that I think I'm getting dizzy." Peter said.

"Why?" Remus asked.

"It's extremely odd, and unheard of."

"No it's not. He babbles on about her all of the time: When we finally go out, when we get married, when we go on our first date, when we share our first kiss. If you paid attention, you'd know that."

"Why should I pay attention to that loud of babble?"

"He's your friend."

"Oh, right, I knew that."

"Why do you think your going to marry me?" Lily said giving James a skeptical look, like she didn't actually want to hear the answer.

"Because I love you, and while it's obviously not going to happen tomorrow, I think someday you'll love me back and then we'll get married and live happily ever after." James said, smiling cheekily at her.

"You're a moron." Lily rolled her eyes.

"I thought that was kind of sweet." Rebby said.

"I thought it was a bit romantic." Becca added.

"I thought it was a loud of crap, now shut up and agree with me before I'm forced to go to Germany and kidnap Mikki just for some support here."

"Did somebody page me?"

"MIKKI!!!!!" Lily, Becca and Rebby yelled and tackled Mikala Casanova to the ground. Mikki was 5'2" and somewhere between petite and... not petite. She had kind of pale skin and almond shaped eyes that tended to change colors randomly, though they were mostly blue. Her hair was waist length, blonde with natural red highlights, and really curly, though she had found a secret cure for frizziness . Usually it was up in a ponytail or something, today she had actually left id down, and in her tackled state on the floor it had managed to get all over her face and everyone else as well.

"Wow, I feel so loved. Can I breathe now?"

"No, never, you're not allowed." Becca said.

"Whatever. Why in bloody hell are we hanging out with the Marauders?" She said as she got off the floor and immediately pulled her hair up into a messy bun using one of the many ponytail holders she wore around her wrist to secure it.

"Why are you back early?" Lily asked.

"I asked you first."

"I caused a people avalanche and landed on them. Then I had to give Potter CPR because he was dying."

"My grandma took me to see a play and left me in the theater too long before the people all arrived. I got out of there faster than you could say 'chicken'. What can I say, big empty rooms scare me. My mom thinks I have abandonment issues because the doctors wouldn't let her hold me right after I was born. Like they could help that I was born premature and had to be ventilated to live and she couldn't hold me because of it." Mikki rolled her eyes. Everyone else blinked.

"Um… well then…" I said raising an eyebrow. "Welcome to my room, help yourself to a portion of my brain, I'm pretty sure it's leaking out onto the floor. Lily, when did you say this medicine would start working?"

"Oh, shut up whiney butt." Mikki said.

"It'll start working in a couple of minutes I'm sure." Lily walked over to me and checked my pulse once again.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

"I'm supposed to. I took CPR and basic medical classes this summer."

"Oh. Was it fun?"

"Yup, I learned that if someone doesn't have a heart beat for more than a couple of minutes there can be brain damage because their blood isn't pumping oxygen into their brain and that an average adult can't lose more than six pints of blood with out an immediate transfusion or they'll die."

"That's… nice."

"It's practical. And it was amusing to see the teacher look at me strangely when I knew the answer and the adults in his group didn't."

"Ah. I see."

"You asked. What did you do this summer?"

"I stayed at home mainly, read a couple of books, played some quidditch with the guys. The usual."

Everyone was staring at Lily and I like we we're three headed aliens. What? We can't have a normal conversation for once? Yeesh.

"So what are we doing tonight?" Rach asked.

"I don't know. Last night we just hung out on the roof. Becca and Sirius had a broom race and Becca won by like a hair. We could go out to dinner tonight I suppose." Rebby said.

"We should go catch a movie! There's a new James Bond movie coming out, and it's supposed to be pretty good." Becca suggested.

"Who is James Bond and what is a movie?"

"Um, wow Sirius, you really don't get out into the muggle world much, do you?"

"Nope, not really."

"Well then, tonight is muggle night!"

"What?"

"It's official, tonight we are going to spend an evening like normal teenage muggle's would!" Becca declared, striking a dramatic pose as Rebby made dramatic sound effects.

"Um, okay."

"That's not actually a bad idea." Lily said. "Except that I don't know if James will be up to it."

"I'm fine Lily, really. I've been milking it. You know how much I Like the attention." I said. Well, I liked to think I was milking it. Really I was in major pain and probably in no shape to go out tonight, but I really wanted to go and have fun with everyone. Plus I hate being bed ridden. I spend way too much of my time during school stuck in the hospital wing, I'd rather not spend my summer stuck in bed as well.

"No, you bloody well not."

"What are you? My mom?"

"No, I'm the one who bloody well saved your pathetic egotistical life, now lay back, take this pill, and be good."

"Dang, prongs. You sure know how to pick them don't you?" Sirius commented.

"Excuse me? And what is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Mmm-hmm, it better be nothing or I'll have those three kick your ass."

"You think I'm afraid of a couple of girls?"

"If you're not, you should be."

"Oh, really? And why is that." Sirius asked mockingly.

Sirius had moved into the middle of the room while he was talking to Lily. Becca walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around to see who was behind him. "Hi there." Becca said before grabbing both of his shoulders and pushing backwards as she stuck her ankle between his and pulled one of his legs out from underneath him, causing him to fall flat on his back. He reached up instinctively to catch himself, and his arm was caught by Becca's arm. She stopped his fall just before his head slammed into the hardwood floor, then lowered him the rest of the way down. As if this wasn't enough, she promptly straddled his chest with his arms next to his body, effectively pinning his arms to his side so he couldn't fight back. "Now, what were you saying about girls?" Becca mocked innocence and laughed as Sirius stared at her in stunned silence.

Sirius was the only one who was stunned into silence though, everyone else was laughing hysterically at him. "Dude, she just kicked your ass!" I said at him between bouts of laughter. By the time our laughter finally subsided, the majority of the people in the room had collapsed onto the floor and were now laying there in general disarray. The exceptions were Sirius and Becca, who were now locked in a staring contest, and myself, because I'm obviously still in my bed, and Lily, who had somehow ended up sprawled halfway across my quilt covered legs. No wonder I had lost the feeling in my foot.

"HAH! I win! You blinked! I win!" Becca hopped off of Sirius having, apparently, won the staring contest, and starting dancing around in place rather badly.

Lily hopped off my bed and started talking again "Anyways, I don't think you'll be ready to go anywhere until tomorrow night, but we'll all get ready and see how you feel later, okay?"

"Does that mean I'm allowed to get up and take a shower? You're not going to give me a sponge bath or something?"

"If you want a sponge bath I'm sure there are plenty of skanky Marauder fan girls who would just, like, totally, love, love, love to give you one!" Lily switched to a stereo-type teenage girl voice half way through her sentence.

"Ha, ha, ha. Jokes, that's all it ever is with you. Now when are you going to grow up and become more mature." James mimicked Lily's voice.

Lily glared at him and stepped closer to the bed. She leaned in and whispered in his ear in a seductive voice "You need to work on your impressions, James. If you ever need CPR again, just give me a call, you know where to find me." My eyes widened and I watched her walk out of the room in amazement. What the hell was that?

After the other girls and Remus and Peter had left to get ready, I voiced my confusion to Sirius. "What the hell was that?"

"What the hell was what?"

"The thing, with Lily, and that voice, and, what the bloody hell?"

"I don't know, I'm just a man, women are a mystery. They confuse the bloody hell out of me all the time. Like that thing with Erika and Samantha. What was that? If Erika didn't want me to break up with her best friend and ask her out, then why was she hitting on me, you know?" Sirius said, getting his clothes out of his trunk.

"Sirius, you're an idiot."

"And I'll never deny it." He smirked at me and disappeared into the bathroom.

Well, at least he's an honest idiot. I thought as I collapsed back on my bed, contemplating Lily's strange behavior while I mulled over the possibility that maybe, possibly, she was finally coming around. Or maybe she was just setting me up for a nice big fall. Either way I'd find out later tonight I suppose.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 6**

"Where's the bloody brush at?" I yelled.

"It's in the drawer to the right of the mirror, behind the cards and Rach's make up bag!" Rebby yelled back to me. There is now a total of five girls staying in a room made for three. We're a little crowded and a little rushed.

We had come back to our room to get ready to go out tonight and had realized that Rach didn't have any clothes with her here, because she had only come to Diagon Alley for the day to pick up her books for school. So we pooled our clothes together and found some things that fit her and that she liked. We had invited her to stay with us for the night as well, and tomorrow she was going to go home and pack her trunk and join us here until we went back to school in a couple of days. Mikki and come completely prepared to crash in our room with us. She had even brought a sleeping bag to crash on the floor with.

However, Rebby and Becca had a different idea. They pushed the three big beds together against the far wall and set them up like on big huge bed, spreading the gigantic sleeping bag that Mikki had brought over all three and then covering that with all of the other blankets they could find. They did all of this while I was in the shower and when I came out they proudly presented it to me as the 'love nest' before racing to the bathroom door to try to be the next to get a shower.

"Here it is!" I grabbed the brush out of the drawer where Rebby had said it would be. As I brushed my hair, Rebby, plopped down on a chair next to me and began drying her hair out with her wand. Mikki soon joined us on my other side. "So what am I going to do with this mess of hair?" After I had dried it with my wand and brushed it out it looked like a giant puff ball. I looked like a red headed bride of Frankenstein.

"Here, try some of this on it. It's should get rid of the friz." Mikki handed me a bottle of hair stuff.

"Do you want it straight or curly tonight?" Rebby asked.

"I don't know. I was thinking I'd wear it down though."

"That'll be a first." Mikki commented.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. She was right though. I always wear my hair up in a ponytail or in a French braid down my back, other wise it gets in my way when I'm trying to take notes, or just walk. My hair is a bright copper red color and is so long that it practically reaches my waist now. Usually it's really wavy, but I sometimes straighten it or curl it. Most of the time, when I try to wear it down, I end up throwing it up into a ponytail five minutes later without even realizing I'm doing it.

"Why don't you wear it curly tonight?" Rebby suggested. "You can use this gel stuff and the curls with hold better.

I took the gel from her and applied first the de-frizzer stuff that Mikki had given me, then liberal amounts of gel before using my wand to curl my hair. When I was finished, it looked pretty good, but it kept falling in my eyes, and if it kept doing that I know I'll end up putting it in a ponytail. "It keeps falling in my eyes. Now what?" I threw my hands up into the air in exasperation. The whole make-up, hair-do scene was not exactly my specialty. I'm more of the quiet well behaved tomboy than anything else.

"Here, use these clips to keep it back out of your face." Becca, who had come out of the shower while I was busy curling, handed me two little beaded blue and green clips and sat down in the chair that Mikki had just vacated. I attempted to do as she said, but there was just too much hair, and the plan failed. "Hmm… here, let me at it." She stood up and, holding the clips in her mouth, used both hands to select a couple strands of hair on either side of my face and pull them around behind my head and clipped them in place with the two clippies. "There you go. Much better."

I turned and looked in the mirror. It was a lot better. The strands she had selected curved softly around the side of my head and where they met in the back they twirled together to form on big ringlet of hair. "Thanks." I said to Becca as she began working on blow drying her own hair with her wand.

Now for an outfit. "Where exactly are we going? Am I dressing casual or dressy?" I asked Mikki who had been put in charge of the plans for the evening.

"Casual dressy."

"Which is what?"

"Jeans and a blouse."

"Oh. Okay." I turned to my trunk and started digging through the clothes I had inside. I found a nice pair of dark blue jeans and threw them on before digging around and finding a green and blue blouse that both matched my eyes and my hair clippies. The blouse was long, ending just below the zipper on my jeans, and had four spaghetti string straps, two that tied behind my neck and two that went over my shoulders and connected with the back of the blouse. I grabbed my jean jacket as well in case it got chilly out later and went to put on my strappy 2 inch high heel sandals. When I was finished getting dressed I turned to the others, all of whom were dressed and ready, including Rach who had somehow managed to shower, do her hair, and get dress in half the time it took the rest of us and still look great, and asked "How'd I do?"

They all nodded their heads in approval and asked for opinions on their outfits as well in turn. Becca had ended up wearing her hair down with its natural wave. She had on a pair of dark jeans with a red, yellow and light blue bird that sort of resembled a phoenix embroidered on her right pant leg with a light blue v-neck blouse that tied behind her neck. She had on a pair of big black boots, her favorite shoes other than her converses, under her jeans and her favorite necklace on around her neck. The necklace was a blue and green gem with flakes of gold that seemed to be floating inside of it on a thin silver chain. She also wore a conglomeration of silver, blue, green and red home made bracelets on her wrists and a white gold ring with an aquamarine stone set in it. She told me once that the ring was her grandmother's senior ring from when she was at Hogwarts. When Becca had gotten her letter, her grandmother had given her the ring. Later that year her grandmother had been murdered by Lord Voldemort. Becca had asked me to keep it secret, and so I had. She told everyone else that her grandmother had passed away peacefully in her sleep and had harbored a grudge against Voldemort ever since.

Rach was wearing a long jean skirt that reached the floor with a pair of high heeled sandals and a long red top with red curvy designs on it. Her hair was worn down and straight with a little clip holding her side fringe so that it fell across her forehead and was pinned just in front of her ear. She looked fabulous, and I told her so.

"You look great, Rach!"

"Thanks." She responded. "I don't usually wear skirts, but I figure, what the hay, I got asked out by Remus today, might as well flaunt what I got for him."

"Um, 'Flaunt what you got'?" I asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah… I've been around my brother's girlfriend too much this summer."

"Just a bit."

"What about my outfit? How is it?"

Rebby was wearing a long sleeved black shirt with red, white, and pink faded roses printed on it. The neckline was really wide, exposing her shoulders and neck, barely catching on the very edge of her shoulders. She wore light faded blue jeans with little rhinestones on the back pockets in a wavy design and silver ballet slippers that, somehow, looked more dressy that casual, though I know from experience (I've borrowed them on more than one occasion) that they are some of the most comfortable shoes you can ever wear. She also had on her friendship bracelets and a locket containing a picture of her and her brother. I told her she looked great and moved on to Mikki.

Mikki had thrown her waist length hair up into a messy bun that she somehow managed to make look elegant, rather than messy as the title would suggest. Her top was a white peasant blouse with gold threading here and there. It had two gold and white straps that tied at the back and two gold and white straps that tied around her neck as well. She had on a blue jean skirt that reached just above her knees and a pair of white sandals. Her ever present gold necklace and gold ring were in their place as well, and she had spiced things up by wearing a pair of gold looped earrings as well. I told her she looked awesome as well and congratulated her on actually wearing earrings for once, then turned and headed for the door.

"I'm going to go and see if the boys are ready, okay? Why don't you show Mikki and Rach the balcony and we'll meet you up there?"

"Okay." Becca and Rebby said together and began dragging the other two girls out of the window and up the stairs. I left the room and walked down the hall to the boy's rooms. I went to Sirius and James's room first, not knowing exactly which room belonged to Remus and Peter. I knock and was greeted by a "Come in." from inside.

I opened the door to see Sirius messing with his hair in the mirror and James lying back on his bed reading the Daily Prophet. Both boys were freshly showered, shaved, and dressed and ready to go. "Are you guys ready?" I asked.

"Yeah." Sirius replied turning away from the mirror and smiling at me. "Where is the rest of the gaggle?"

"Up on the balcony waiting for us."

"Well then, I'll just be on my way. I'll get Remus and Peter on my way over." Sirius slipped past me and out of the room.

"So, let's see if you're well enough to come along tonight or if I got all dressed up to play babysitter to a whiney 16 year old."

"Hey I'm not-" James, who had been concentrating on the news article, turned to look at me and argue about my comment, stopped mid sentence and stared at me.

"What? Am I turning purple? Did I grow an extra head? What?" I asked him. That was at least the thousandth strange stare I had gotten today, and it was getting annoying.

"No, um, it's just, you look so beautiful is all." James blushed and suddenly became very interested in making sure his newspaper got rolled up just right.

"Um… thanks." I said walking over to his bed. "Okay, now how do you feel?"

"That medicine finally kicked in and my headache went away. My chest was a little soar from you pounding on it earlier, but the medicine helped with that too I think. And I stood up to go to the bathroom earlier and wasn't a bit dizzy." He stated proudly.

"Okay then, stand up." He did as I told him and stood beside his bed. "Now bend over and touch your toes and then stand up really quickly again." Again, he did as I said, and when he came back up he stumbled and bumped into his bed.

"That was dizzying. Do I fail the test?"

"No, I just had you do that because I thought it would be amusing. You're fine, but you'll probably be a little soar in the morning, and you'll need more Tylenol, too, later."

"Oh. Okay then. We better get a move on, before the others get antsy." He said and tried to walk past me to get to the table by the window where he had left his wallet. There wasn't much space between the beds, and it was made even more crowded by a couple of chairs that had been moved over earlier, so James was forced to slip past me, our chests nearly touching. He was so close I could smell his cologne; it was intoxicating. For a moment I closed my eyes and just smelled his cologne, then I mentally slapped myself in the face. Bad Lily, bad! This is James Potter you're thinking about. You can't be all week kneed after smelling his cologne, it's not allowed! Allowed by whom? I asked the voice in my head. Allowed by you, you dolt! Oh, right, I knew that. I suppose I'm not allowed to like how his dress shirt is unbuttoned at the top slightly either, am I? Or the nice ass in those jeans, huh? NO! BAD LILY! You're doing it again! Stop being an idiot and get your act together woman!

I shook my head slightly and followed James to the door. He held it open while I walked through and then waited for him to close the door and lock it behind us.

"Shall we?" He asked, holding his arm out to me. He was being such a gentleman tonight. How odd.

I eyed him suspiciously, but, finding nothing out of the ordinary, placed my arm in his and said "I suppose we shall, but if you're up to something I swear… What Becca did to Sirius earlier will be nothing compared to what I'll do to you." James stopped and looked over at me with genuine innocence on his face.

"I'm not up to anything, I swear. I'm just trying to do as you suggested to me and, I quote, "Grow up, James Potter."" He said, starting down the hallway again.

"Hmm…" I said "Okay, if you say so."

The two of us walked up to the balcony and, after a small argument over whether we were going to eat first or go see the movie first. We headed out of the Leaky Cauldron and into the muggle world for a night on the town.


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 7**

"Take the shot! Take the shot!" Sirius and Becca insisted.

"FINE! Give me the bloody glass!" I took the shot glass full of tequila from Sirius and drank it down in one big gulp. You know, tequila goes down pretty smooth after you've had four or five shots of it. I'd tell you how many I've had, but I lost count after 6.

"Becca, your turn!" Becca picked up a galleon and bounced it off the table and into a shot glass full of rum. "Oh! Rum! My favorite!" Becca said before tossing back the shot, not even batting an eye. That had to be her 16th or 17th shot, every time she got the dang galleon in the glass, she took the shot instead of giving it to someone else.

Before tonight I had never had a drink of alcohol before in my life. After the movie and dinner, the topic of drinking had somehow come up. Apparently Sirius keeps a nice little stock of different types of hard alcohol in his trunk at all times. When I asked him why he gave me the excuse "medical purposes" and wouldn't tell me what exactly his medical purposes were. Some how, the conversation about alcohol ended the entire group up here, in James and Sirius's room, all but Becca drunk as skunks. Don't ask me how she still managed to stay conscious, much less act normally after the amount she had drank.

"So, Becca, howcom yur not dwunk?" I asked her. Three guesses whether I'm drunk or not.

"Oh, I get a lot of practice with this. My sister's in college now, remember?"

"Sistrer? Whot sis-sisther?" I asked.

"You know, Elizabeth, my older sister, Sophomore in college, short, has long black-brown hair, she used to beat the crap out of us in poker?"

"Oh yeah… dat sisfer."

"I vote Lily is disqualified from the game before she starts losing brain cells."

"Here-hic-here!" Rebby said, raising her the shot glass full of firewhiskey.

"Thas not fayer! I wanned to play!" I complained. I stood up to protest and a wave of dizziness fell over me. "Whhops!" I said falling over on top of Mikki, who was giggling madly, Remus, who seemed to have a permanent red to his cheeks and glaze to his eyes, and James, who was the only other person in the room who acted fairly sober, probably because he had escaped taking shots for most of the evening by pawning all of his off on me, Sirius, Rebby and Peter. I think Peter passed out after two shots of vodka. I don't know where he is now, but I hope he's better off than I am at the moment.

It just so happened that the way I fell I ended up laying on my back, my head resting in James's lap. Talk about akward. Of course what comes out of my incredibly drunk mouth but "You havv nice-hic-eyes. They're all pretty and hazelly-green and pretty and I'm tired." James looked down at me and smirked.

"Mate, I think she's drunk." James said to Sirius.

"Well, good luck getting her back to her room. I'm seeing triple right now. Oh! My turn!" Sirius turned back to the little ring of shot glasses and took the galleon and bounced it off the floor, narrowly missing a shot glass. "How could I miss all nine of them?"

"There's only three, Sirius." Becca said to him.

"Oh." Sirius looked at the ring of shot glasses for a minute, then back up at Becca. "You're prrrrreeeettttyyyyyy." Sirius swayed and fell over backwards.

"It's okay! I got him!" Becca pulled Sirius over onto his side and put a pillow under his head. "Don't want him drowning in his own vomit now do we."

"Uuuughhhh…" I moaned at the thought of vomit. Now I felt a little sick. "I think I'll go back to my room now." I tried to stand up again but couldn't get past sitting.

James stood up and offered me his hand. "Here, let me help you." He said. I took his hand and he pulled me up onto my feet. I almost fell back over again, but he held onto my hand and pulled me back before I actually fell. "Alrighty then, here we go now." James situated me so that one of my arms was around his shoulder and bent and pulled my legs out from under me, forcing me to fall back into his arms and hang onto his neck for dear life. James hefted me and carried me out the door to his room and into the hallway. I looked up at him and the word vomit came out again.

"Yur hawt." I smiled at him.

"You know, I've been waiting for the last five, no, six years for you to say something close to that, and now that you have, I wish you hadn't."

"And wizezat?"

"Cause I'm not sure if you really mean it, or if it's just the tequila talking."

"Hmm… I like tequila. And rum. I love rum."

"Yes, I can tell." He was laughing silently as he smiled back at me. "You know, you're cute when you're all weak and innocent and er, drunk."

"Thank you. Yor cute too, and your ass is pretty nice as well."

"Um… thanks?"

"You're welcum."

"Here we are." James said as he shifted my weight onto one knee and used his free hand to open the door to my room. He walked me over to the massive bed thing and plopped me down on the covers.

"Hmm, soft…" I said, sighing.

James smiled at me and pulled the top blanket out from under me and pulled it up to my shoulders. He then proceeded to act like a mother hen and tuck me in while telling me a bedtime story. "Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who was loved by a handsome prince. The princess didn't believe the prince actually loved her, so she got mad and threw him out of the castle. Then, one day, the prince saved the princess and proved to her how much he loved her. The prince and princess got married and lived happily ever after."

"That's a nice story." I said, already half asleep. James bent over and kissed me on the forehead.

"Nighty night, princess." He said and headed for the door.

"Wait, don't go, you're not supposed to leave drunk people alone and asleep, they roll over and drown in vomit, or lose consciousness and fall into commas. Or hit their heads when they fall down on the way to the bathroom when the room starts to spin." I said. I really need to never drink again. I say things that are completely gross when I'm drunk.

"Okay, then I'll stay."

"All night?"

"All night." James went over and picked up and chair and sat it next to the bed. "I'll just sit in this chair until the girls come back."

I held out my hand to him. "Take my hand." I said. That was the clearest thing I'd said all night after the third shot.

James grabbed my hand and I rolled over and pulled him onto the bed with me. His yelp of surprise told me that this was completely unexpected. Good. I didn't expect it either.

"Um, Lily?"

"Yeah-wuh?" I replied. Oh yeah, I'm smooth.

"Any reason I'm in the bed?"

"Nope."

"Can I have my arm back then?"

"Nope."

"This is akward."

"Only cuz yah still have yur shoesss on and ther messin up tha covers."

"So I have to sleep here, with you, in this big bed, all night, alone."

"Yep, but doncha get any ideas-hic-er else."

"Okay."

"No roaming hans er any other porsons of yer body, got it?"

"Yup. Keep all body parts to myself that you aren't holding onto for dear life."

"Good. Now go a slep." I grunted, closing my eyes and drifting off into dreamland.

"Hmm…" I groaned slightly as a strip of light fell across my eyes. Damn sun, couldn't it wait until tomorrow morning to come up? I snuggled futher under the blankets pulling the arm draped over me closer into my protective cocoon of blankets. Wait, arm? What arm? I opened my eyes and looked at the arm. That's a man's arm. Why is there a man's arm in my bed? I followed the arm with my eyes, tracing it back to its source: a shoulder. A man's shoulder. I turned onto my back and sat up slightly leaning on one elbow and looked down at the head that had been snuggled into my pillow, and my hair for that manner. OH MY GOD.

"POTTER! What in bloody hell are you doing in my BED?!" I half screamed at him. I would have completely screamed, but I might have woken someone else up, and that would be awkward.

"Gmrfhhnmfepfehr…" was the only noise James made, rolling over and pulling the pillow over his head.

I ripped the pillow off of his head and half screamed at him again. "Potter! Get OUT of my bed this instance!"

"Just ten more minutes mum." James mumbled. This is ridiculous. James Potter is sleeping in my bed with me and is too unconscious to even try anything. Must be my lucky day, or night, or, well, whatever.

I sat up on my knees and pulled the covers off of James. He curled up into a little ball in response to the lack of blankets. "That's it! You asked for it buddy!" I bent over and, placing both hands squarely at his back, gave a great shove that rolled James off of my bed and made him go splat onto the floor.

"AH!" James jumped to his feet a split second after he hit the floor and pulled out his wand.

"Good morning sunshine, this is your 8:30 am wake up call telling you to explain why in bloody hell YOU were sleeping in MY bed!"

"Huh?" James said, clearly not awake yet.

I picked up the pillow and hopped off the bed. I began beating James thoroughly with the pillow, saying a word between each heavy smack of the pillow to his skull."You, me, bed, sleeping, together, last night, why?"

"Okay! Okay! Calm down and just give me a minute." James said. He yawned and stretched, then rubbed his backside where he had landed on it. "You remember anything from last night?" he asked.

"Well of course I remember…" wait, what did I do last night? "Err…"

"No? Didn't think so. What is the last thing you remember about yesterday evening?"

"Walking back from the restaurant and going up to your and Sirius's room with everyone else. Then it's just sort of … blurry…"

"That would be the six shots of tequila, 3 of fire whiskey, and 2 of rum that you had last night."

"No! I've never drank before in my life! I didn't… I couldn't have…. Why would I…?" Now I was confused. I definitely don't remember drinking anything last night, but then I hardly remember anything from last night. I do however have the headache from hell right now, a classic hangover symptom.

"You did, you could, and you would because everyone was playing a drinking game and you were everyone's favorite victim. Except for Becca. I think she drank all of her shots. And she's good at that game, whatever it was called, something to do with American muggle money…"

"Quarters?"

"Yeah! That's it. How did you know?"

"I always get to hear Becca's crazy stories about playing drinking games with her sister and her sister's friends."

"Fun."

"Wait, you didn't answer my question! Why were you sleeping in my bed?!"

"You invited me."

"What?"

"You were falling down drunk, and I was the only fairly sober one left, so I carried you back here and put you in your bed and tucked you in and told you a bedtime story. Then I went to leave and you told me to stay. I got a chair and sat it next to the bed to sit in, but before I could actually sit, you grabbed my arm and pulled me onto the bed."

"Oh god, don't tell me anything happened."

"No, actually you told me I couldn't leave, at least not if I wanted to take my arm with me, and that I wasn't to "get any ideas" which I took to mean no touching except the arm you had in a vice grip. Then you passed out."

"Oh thank god." I sat down on the edge of the bed, the pillow in my hands slipping to the floor. "Thank God I didn't do anything stupid."

"Er, I feel loved."

"And thank you for, um, being a gentleman."

"Well, you know, whatever. The whole rape thing isn't really my style." This elicited a slightly nervous giggle from me. "I would have waited until you were asleep and snuck away, but I figured I'd do that when the other girls came back, but, apparently they never made it here."

I looked around and for the first time realized that my room mates were not in the room and that it was way too early for them to be awake yet. "Hmm… care to join me in a glass of water, a couple Tylenol, and a waking of the hangovers?" I smiled evilly. This was going to be fun.

"Sure. I could definitely use the Tylenol, and a cup of coffee after the waking bit would be nice."

"Well I hope you don't expect me to make it. I can cook a lot of things, but coffee is not my forte, it always comes out gross. Tea is better for a hangover anyways."

"I thought you had never drunk alcohol before?"

"I hadn't, but Becca and Rebby have, and so have my parents. Have you ever been present for Bunko night? It's crazy. Imagine ten middle aged women in a room with booze and cards laughing like hyenas at a comedy convention."

"Hmm… What's Bunko?"

"It's a card game where… you know what, never mind. Let's go say good morning to everyone else." I smiled evilly again.

"You're kind of scary when you smile like that, you know?"

"Good. They should be scared." I rubbed my palms together menacingly and, after gathering a small arsenal to use on the others, left for James and Sirius's room, James following with that stupid smirk of his plastered to his face.

I filled James in on our plan of attack just outside the door to the room. James smirked as he heard my plan and nodded his understanding. We snuck into the room silently, careful to place a pillow between the doorjamb to keep from causing extra noise by closing the door.

I looked around the room. There were people and random objects everywhere. Sirius was passed out on the floor, lying on his stomach with his face buried in a pillow. Becca was using his back as a pillow. Rebby had managed to make it to a bed; she was sprawled across Sirius's, width wise that is, with out covers. Mikki was rolled up in the quilt from Sirius's bed, only her hair and an odd toe or finger poking out from underneath. James's bed was occupied by an unconscious Rachel and Remus; Remus was at the foot of the bed sleeping sideways, Rachel was at the head, hanging halfway over the edge, and her fingers inches from the floor. I pushed open the door to the bath room and saw Peter situated in the little niche between the bathtub and the toilet, where he had apparently spent a busy night emptying the contents of his stomach through the incorrect end. The rest of the room and the bathroom were covered in an inch of colorful confetti.

"Looks like they had fun after we left." James whispered to me.

"Just a bit." I replied. "Let's get started."

James nodded and pulled out his wand. He started with Rebby, turning her skin blue with orange polka dots, her hair bright pink, and putting shaving cream all over her head and arms. I laughed silently and walked over to Remus and Rachel. I pulled my wand out and began changing their skin color and hair color to match one another. Remus received bright red skin with pink and white hearts, Rachel, bright pink skin with red and white hearts. Their hair was changed from blonde and light brown to an extremely bright shade of neon green; and just because the effect wasn't as startling as I had hoped it would be, I made their hair flash like a turn signal every five seconds, first Rachel, the Remus consecutively. I was almost finished, just one more thing to be done. I tied a little string to both Remus and Rachel's wrists that was connected to two buckets I had hanging from the ceiling. When Remus wakes up, a load of nice sticky honey would fall onto his and Rachel's heads. When Rachel wakes up, a large amount of feathers and the confetti that was covering the floor like a night's snowfall would fall from the sky and stick to their honey covered bodies.

Next I moved on to Peter in the bathroom, following much the same routine, except instead of little hearts, I gave him polka dots that flashed different colors and a fake orange mustache that wouldn't come off until he yelled that he liked to wear girls underwear ten times loudly.

Satisfied with my work, I looked over to see how James was doing and realized exactly why he was such a good Marauder, other than his incapability to follow school rules. Not only had James pulled the classic maneuvers including water balloons, honey, shaving cream, and about a mile of yarn, he had also made use of a large amount of glitter, two or three hundred ping pong balls, and the biggest water balloon I'd ever seen, at least 3 feet in diameter, filled with Jell-O.

"Okay, just two victims left." We both looked menacingly down at Becca and Sirius, our best friends, then back at each other and grinned wickedly. "Any ideas?" I asked James.

"I'm going to need a foot deep plastic baby pool, fifty or sixty pounds of Jell-O, more glitter, some extremely strong hair gel, fake fur, and two extremely embarrassing hats and other assorted accessories." He said his grin growing to reach all the way to the corners of his eyes. If I were the two unconscious people right now, I'd be afraid, very afraid.

"Sir, yes sir!" I gave him a mock salute and started conjuring supplies while James transfigured one of the chairs into a plastic kiddy pool.

Working together, we lifted our best friends a foot in the air with our wands, slid the kiddy pool underneath them filled to the brim with jello topped with glitter and fake fur, and placed a timed hovering charm on them, set to go off in about 5 minutes. In the next four minutes, James and I took the hair gel and gave Becca troll hair, like the little colorful dolls, not actual trolls, and Sirius the Mohawk from hell complete with pink and purple highlights. As for the embarrassing items, I had conjured up a bright pink and orange apron which James immediately put on Sirius as best he could without waking him, and a leopard print thong, which I put on Becca's head at a nice jaunty angle.

Checking to make sure everything was set one last time, James and I retreated out of the room and peaked through a small space in the doorway, waiting for our own version of an alarm clock to ring. Just seconds before the fiasco was set to begin, James turned to me and said "Now how come you never have fun like this at school?" but before I could answer him, the alarm went off.

BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! The room was filled with the ringing of a huge church bell, tolling the hour, 9 am.

Everyone one in the room reacted at once. Rachel screamed and rolled off the bed backwards, landing in a massive pile of chocolate fudge. Remus sat up too quickly and smacked his head on the bed post. The buckets of honey and feathers that had been hovering over them, spilled onto their extremely surprised heads, making them look like a couple of extremely large, extremely gooey multicolored birds. Peter was heard screaming in the bathroom, probably because there were a few hundred fake spiders crawling all over his body now. Rebby jumped to her feet on Sirius's bed and pulled out her wand, yelling "Who goes there?!" before being coated in honey and having a massive amount of multi colored glitter fall on her head. Mikki jumped out of her blanket cocoon and was immediately hit by the gigantic Jell-O water balloon. Sirius and Becca were dropped into the pool of glitter covered Jell-O as soon as the bell had rung, and were now slipping and swimming around in the goop, trying to stand up, but failing miserably.

Then the real fun began, the ceiling started raining ping pong balls. They were flying everywhere, bouncing off of peoples heads and sticking to bits of honey or fudge. Water balloons filled with colored water flew through the room, dive bombing people, chasing them if they ran. When Mikki tried to run from a particularly vicious water balloon, she became tangled in a massive net of yarn causing her to fall backwards onto a large pile of feathers. Becca and Sirius finally managed to get out of the pool of Jell-O, just in time to get hit by floating cans of shaving cream that had surprisingly good aim. For cans that is.

I couldn't hold it in any longer. I looked up at James, who had been leaning over me to see through the crack in the door, and burst out laughing. He started laughing too, and we both collapsed onto the floor in fits of hysteric laughter. We were still laying there laughing like maniacs when the spells wore off and our friends finally heard our laughter and peeked out the door.

"I think I've found the culprits." stated Becca glaring down at James and me.

"Really? Could you be any more obvious?" asked Rebby.

"Yes. You're hair is polka dotted."

"Any other hidden talents you'd like to share with us?" Mikki asked.

"Just my love of poetry; for instance I wrote this one just now. The sky is blue, the grass is green, some one we know, is about to be in pain!"

I took that as my cue to scream "RUN!" to James and leap from the floor and down the hall. James somehow managed to get away from them as well, and took off after me. We ran down the hallway with the others right on our heels. They chased us down the stairs, through the pub, onto the muggle streets, back inside the pub, up the stairs, and back into James and Sirius's room, where they cornered us next to the pool of Jell-O.

"You're turn!" Becca said, tackling me into the goop. Sirius shoved James in it too, and the rest of our friends proceeded to hand them odd bits to through at us and coat us with. By the time they gave up, James and I were worse off than all of the rest of them combined.

I stood up from the pool and looked over at James, who at one point had managed to crawl out of the pool and get halfway to the door before being tackled by a shaving cream armed Rebby, and smirked. "Hmm… Potter, you look better than ever. You just need one more thing." I pulled out my wand and gave him a clown nose.

"HEY!" he exclaimed, then tackled me to the floor and started tickling me madly. Now how on earth had he known that that was just about the worst thing he could do to me? I am the most ticklish person I know, and I keep it secret for this very reason, yet somehow, he knew just how to get to me.

"No… James… stop… please… I can't…. can't breath… hahaha!" I tried to beg James to stop tickling me, but I could barely talk for laughing. My friends weren't any help either, they were all draped over the beds or on the floor laughing crazily at the sight of me wiggling around in an inch of confetti being tickled by a honey, fudge, shaving cream, Jell-O, glitter, feather, ping pong ball, and confetti covered James.

James finally stopped tickling me and collapsed onto the floor next to me out of breath from laughing so much at my laughing. I was completely exhausted from laughing so much. I breathed out a sigh of relief that the torture, other wise known at the tickling, was finally over.

"So," Mikki sat up from her spot on the floor quite suddenly and started talking "You two planned this, did you?" she glared at James as if it was all his fault and I was just some sort of side kick, Santa's elf if you will.

"Don't look at me." James said "It was all her idea." He pointed to me.

"I would never…" I said, looking at Mikki innocently.

"Mmm-hmmm, and I'm the Easter Bunny." Becca rolled her eyes.

"You traitor!" I said, glaring playfully at James.

He smiled at me innocently and asked "What?" I smacked him on the arm. "Hey! A little abusive?" I smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow!"

"Look at that, they're flirting, how cute." said Sirius. I blushed. Becca followed my example and smacked him in the back of the head. "Hey!" she back handed him in the stomach. "Ugh! Now that was uncalled for!" she whacked him on the arm.

"Stop while you're ahead Sirius." Remus said, laughing silently.

"But I'm not ahead, I'm behind."

"Well in that case…" Becca smacked him on the arm again and smiled brightly.

"Thank you, my bruise needed another bruise."

"You're welcome."

"Look who's flirting now." I whispered to James. Sirius and Becca were now facing off, each arguing loudly, about what none of us knew, not even them. I looked over at Mikki and she winked at me. She moved so that she was standing just behind Becca, and Rebby moved behind Sirius. Uh-oh. Here comes trouble. Mikki held up one finger, then two, then three. On the third, Mikki and Rebby gave both Becca and Sirius a shove. One minute they were arguing like little kids, the next, they were catching each with their mouths. By "catching themselves with their mouths" I mean they caught each other and started kissing all at once. And then they didn't stop.

"Um… we're just gonna… um… go, now…" I said, standing up and walking out the door, James, Remus, Rachel, Peter, and a giggling Rebby and Mikki following me out. "Well, that was awkward. And you realize she's going to kill you two later, right?"

"Yeah, but it was worth it just to get the two of them to shut up." Mikki said. "Listening to them is like listening to you and James argue."

"Yeah, it's pointless and incoherent." Rebby added.

"Do you even know what incoherent means?" I asked her.

"Yes, it means unable to be understood by others, as in anyone who has to listen to the two of you."

"Though it has been quiet recently."

"Yes, I noticed that myself." Rachel decided to join the conversation. "Like the other day in Diagon Alley at the ice cream parlor, I was surprised to even see them sitting at the same table with him after what happened at the end of the school year, much less eating ice cream and talking civilly."

"They talk as though we're not here." I said to James.

"Maybe we're not. Maybe we're ghosts and nobody ever told us."

"You mean like how Professor Binns was a ghost for about a week before anyone got up the guts to tell him."

"Yeah, but in Dumbledore's defense, he was busy helping the ministry sort out some of those Death Eater blokes."

"How do you know that?"

"Well, with all the time I spend in his office after getting in so much trouble, he and I talk a lot. We'd be on first name basis if it weren't for the fact that he's a professor and I'm a student."

"Huh, really?"

"Yeah, and he seems to have a soft spot for pranksters. He always has us, Sirius, Remus, Peter and I that is, do our detentions with him."

"Really? I wonder why."

"They're crazy about each other and only one of them realizes it." Rebby continued. "Of course, I don't blame Lily, I didn't see it myself until Becca pointed it out to me."

"Well at least they're finally being nice to each other." Mikki said.

"Well, James has always tried to be nice to Lily, he just kept going about it the wrong way, and then she would never give him the time of day." Remus said.

"Really? We just always thought he was being obnoxious." Rebby said.

"No, he was just trying to get her attention, but he didn't understand that she wasn't going to give him the time of day while he acted like a love struck puppy. I kept telling him to wise up and ct like a normal person instead of an idiotic git, but did he listen to me? No. He did finally decide to try "playing hard to get" this summer, which was at least a step in the right direction. He gave up yesterday though, decided it wasn't right if he had to pretend to be someone else to get Lily to go out with him."

"That's a good thing to realize. It's all deep and stuff." Mikki said.

"Maybe now that he's acting normal Lily will actually give him a chance."

"I don't know, but she seems to be already I think."

"Um, hello, we're standing right here. And your embarrassing me, now shut up. Last one to the balcony is the last one to get a shower. Ready, GO!" I said, trying to break up their discussion before my head got so red it exploded. We raced up to the balcony; James came in first, not even bothered by the up hill sprint, Peter was last and was breathing so hard I could swear one of his lungs gave out.

"Well, you're first in the shower. See you later." I said to Rebby who had managed to be the first girl up the stairs.

"Hey, I was first!"

"Yes, but you're a boy, go shower in Remus's room if you must."

"Oh. Well then. I'll be back in a bit." James and Rebby both disappeared down the stairs to take their showers. The rest of us sat on the Balcony talking, waiting for our turn to clean up. Becca and Sirius showed up a little while later smiling like crazy and holding hands. Wonder what happened there?

All summer I kept wondering how school would go this year. Whether it would be the same as before, or if it would be completely different from years before. If school this year is anything like the past couple of weeks have been, it's going to be a great year. A little hectic, a little crazy, and where Becca and Sirius came in, more than likely a little heart breaking. But overall, I have a feeling this year will be good. Maybe.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 8**

"Shove over, would you? There isn't enough space in this little compartment for all nine of us with stretched out on the seat taking a bloody nap." Becca walked over to Sirius and shoved him off of the long bench seat onto the floor, then sat down herself.

"Bloody hell, having a bad day?" Sirius asked.

"No, I just have issues with homework, and school generally involves homework."

"On the other hand, we get to do magic all of the time and party in the common room constantly." Sirius pointed out.

"No, Sirius, that's just you and James because you finish your homework in ten minutes after never paying attention in class."

"Oh. Well if you ever need any help, you know who to turn to."

"Who? You?" I said incredulously.

"No, Lily, I was referring to Remus." Sirius smirked.

"Thanks for volunteering me for tutoring duty." Remus rolled his eyes and continued reading his book. We all settled into our seats. It was the first time we had sat still since waking up this morning and getting ready to go to the station. We had arrived just in time to throw our trunks onto the train and jump aboard before the whistle blew and the Hogwarts Express pulled out of Kings Cross and began its journey to Hogsmeade and Hogwarts. "However, James is the best at Transfiguration, so if you're having trouble with that, I'd see him."

"No, I have issues with charms… just ask Lily…"

"Oh, is that why she walked around with orange and purple highlights last year?"

"Yes, it was. Her charms skills are in perfectly capable tutoring hands, so never mind."

"And who's hands would those be?" asked James from his seat by the window, just across from mine.

"Mine." I replied.

"And very beautiful hands they are, too."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Lily could use some work on her transfiguration. Last time she tried to transfigure a rat into a goblet, it sprouted extra legs and ran away." Now I was glaring at Mikki.

"Well, I'd be glad to help you out with your transfiguration." James said, smiling at me just a little too happily.

"I've got it under control, thanks." I said, taking out one of my new books to read. This one was a muggle book, called The Key to Rebecca, by Ken Follet. I had picked it up because I thought it was amusing that it bore the name of two of my best friends. Once I had read the back cover though, I decided to buy it because the story sounded interesting, if perhaps a little risqué´.

Everyone settled down. James and Sirius were sitting, heads together, discussing something in a low voice; probably their first prank of the year. Peter was sitting in the seat next to the door sleeping with his feet stretched across the aisle resting on the seat across from him. Mikki was flipping through the daily prophet, a small stack of magazines sat waiting a similar fate at her feet. Rebby was laying on her back on the floor, her feet on her seat, reading one of the books on Taekwondo that James and I had bought in Diagon Alley. Remus and Rachel were sitting next to each other reading, occasionally making whispered comments to each other. Becca was sitting next to me cross legged drawing something in her sketch book.

After about thirty minutes, I looked at my watch and said "Remus, time for the Prefects meeting." The two of us got up and left for the Prefect's compartment at the head of the train. "So, Remus, I never got the chance to ask, how was your summer?"

"It was, um, fun I suppose. I spent more time than I would have liked at home though."

"How's that?"

"My family's just… a little… unorthodox I suppose."

"Are they muggles or wizards?"

"Um, my Da is a wizard, mum's a muggle, but she's apparently always had a feel for magic. She likes the muggle tricks, knows a lot of lore about the creatures."

"What, like vampires and banshees and werewolves?" I asked. Remus seemed to flinch at the mention of werewolves. That's odd.

"Yeah. She's particularly interested in werewolves these days."

"Do you know any werewolves?" Remus looked particularly uncomfortable now.

"Just one. He's actually a very nice guy. My family are really the only one's that know about him being a werewolf though, wizarding society tend to forget that becoming one usually isn't done by choice. James, Sirius and Peter know him too."

"Really? I've never met a werewolf before." Remus gave a short laugh at this. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. Look, we're here." I furrowed my eyebrows at his back, confused about his attitude during the conversation, especially at the end, and followed him through the door to the Prefects compartment.

The meeting was much the same as the year before had been. The Slytherine's sat in one corner making jeering comments at the Head Prefects; the fifth year Prefects asked questions and received answers; the Head Prefects blathered on about responsibility and such. If there was one thing I'd do when I became Head Girl, I'd nix the long dull speeches and make the meetings more fun. The only interesting thing that happened, other than the 'accidental' jinxing of one of the Slytherine's turning their hair from black to pink, was the announcement that this year Professor Dumbledore had asked us to plan a Christmas Ball. He said that we needed to promote more unity in the school and that he could think of no way better to do so, than "with the aid of good music and bad dancing".

All through the meeting I kept wondering about why Remus had acted so odd earlier. I tried to bring up werewolves again on the walk back to our compartment, but he kept waiving the topic away and asking me obscure questions. He was avoiding the topic with a vengeance, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why. Eventually I gave up and walked silently back to the compartment with him.

When we arrived at the compartment we were greeted by the sound of extremely loud laughter. I opened the compartment door and laughed myself at the sight of James and Sirius chasing Becca around the compartment.

"Give me that bloody sketchbook!" James yelled, dodging to the left, missing Becca by an inch as she jumped up on one of the bench seats and hid behind Rachel who had jumped up when she saw Becca coming towards her.

"Give it here or I'll-" Sirius started, only to be interrupted by Becca.

"Or you'll what? Give me a kiss? Get taken down by me again? What?" Becca taunted Sirius and giggled as he snatched for the sketchbook just as she yanked it out of his reach.

"Um, what's going on here?" I asked, trying hard not to laugh as Sirius jumped up and down trying to reach the sketchbook.

"Becca drew some picture of the two of them, and when she showed it to them, they flipped out and have been trying to get it from her for the last five minutes." Mikki said, crossing her arms and watching Becca dance around with the sketchbook high over her head. While Becca was busy dancing about and taunting Sirius, James snuck up behind her and grabbed her ankle, causing her to fall backwards towards Sirius. To his credit, Sirius caught her as she fell, probably because it was either that or be landed on. The sketchbook flew from Becca's hand and landed in Rebby's lap.

"Oh, hello, where did this come from? Very interesting rendering Becca. One of your best works yet. Can I have a copy of it?" Rebby stood up and walked into the hall and stood behind me, where James couldn't reach her. "Would you like to see the picture Remus?" Rebby offered the sketchbook to Remus who took it and looked at the picture then began laughing outrageously. I don't think I've ever heard him laugh like that before, normally he just sort of snickers silently or smirks and shakes his head.

"You know, I really should give this to James and Sirius to be destroyed, but I just can't, it's too funny. I'd like a coy too, if you don't mind. I'm going to have it framed and hang it on the wall above my bed." He handed the sketchbook back to Rebby and squeezed past me and into the compartment where he shook Becca's hand. "I congratulate you on depicting them so accurately."

"Hey!"

"Traitor!"

Remus shrugged his shoulders and sat down in his seat, and taking out Becca's camera. "This needs to be documented. Just in case they get a hold of the actual sketch." He brought the camera over and handed it over my shoulder to Rebby. Rebby sat the sketchbook on the ground and took a few pictures of it then picked it back up again. She handed the camera back to Remus.

"Would you like to see the pretty picture Lily?" Rebby asked innocently.

"Does it thoroughly embarrass Potter and Black?" I asked.

"Of course, what else do I draw? I'm pretty sure they haven't been chasing me for the pictures of the creatures from Care of Magical Creatures class last year or the random doodles of flowers and Matthias." Becca rolled her eyes.

"Who is Matthias?" Sirius asked.

"He's this character I made up. See I was writing this story and…" Becca continued to tell Sirius all about the story she had been writing for about a year that she had never finished. I wasn't paying attention though. I was busy laughing my butt off at the picture that she had drawn of Sirius and James.

The sketch was about six inches tall and featured James and Sirius in manga form standing together looking in full length body mirrors. James was wearing a pink fluffy dress and a puzzled look on his face, Sirius, a purple dress a look of speculation. James was scratching his chin, other hand on his hip saying "How did I end up in this thing?" Sirius's was twisted around looking at his behind in the mirror saying "Who cares about that? Does this color make me look fat?" In the background Peter was holding up another dress, this one blue saying "Try this one, it'll go well with your eyes."

"Hmm… nice work here Becca, I'm still fond of the "pansy-man" one though. It's definitely my favorite."

"Wait, there are more of these?" James asked.

"Yes, a lot. Becca's favorite subject matter is one, you all doing something stupid, two, imaginary characters from her many storylines, none of which she has ever finished, and three, scenes of nature or Arthurian legend, the muggle versions that is. She has a knack for drawing Celtic knots."

"Is that difficult?" James asked.

I looked over at Becca, who was still explaining one of her storylines to Sirius. "Hey, Becs, can I show him some of the stuff in your sketchbook?"

"Yeah sure, just don't screw it up, or let him get hold of it. If he does, with all the drawings of him and the guys in there, I'll never get it back." Becca replied, and then went back to explaining the storyline, now to Remus and Rach as well as Sirius.

"Here, this is one of the knots; they're really complicated to draw sometimes. I tried once and got lost." I flipped to the appropriate page and showed him a twisting turning mass of lines that formed a circle. "There are simpler ones too. Like the triquetra, that's a Celtic knot." I showed him a drawing of the triquetra.

"Interesting." He said. We sat down on the bench of seats and flipped through the sketchbook, me pointing out some of my favorites or what some of them meant, him laughing and glaring for each respectively. There were a lot of new drawings in there too that I hadn't seen. Probably the new stuff was from over the summer. "The great thing about Becca's sketchbook is it never runs out of pages; no matter how much she draws in it, the pages can and will never run out because it has been charmed so that they cannot. I did that charm by the way. It was a birthday gift in… third year I believe." I explained to James who had been giving the book strange looks as I continued to flip the pages. "It's also charmed to feel light as a feather and to never actually become bigger than it is now, to cut down on bulk."

"Third year was a busy year for all of us it seems." James murmured.

"Huh?" I said. What was he talking about, a busy year? It had taken me the better part of the year to finish it, but what had he done that year that made it so busy?

"Oh, um, nothing, nothing at all." James replied hastily.

The rest of the train ride I read my book. Or at least I sat with the book open to the same page not actually reading the words, contemplating the mystery that is the Marauders. James is avoiding something to do with third year. It's something important too, I can feel it. Remus too; he's hiding something as well. And it has to do with werewolves. A werewolf that all four of them know… His parents know... A friend, of the family…

"Oh, Holy SHIT!" I exclaimed sitting up straight in my seat, eyes wide, mouth agape.

"Everything okay there Lils?" Becca asked raising an eyebrow.

I tried to respond, but just sat there, my mouth moving soundlessly. "He's a… it's a… I… he… and they…" I looked at Remus incredulously then at the other boys, then back to Remus. He gave me a questioning look, then his eyes opened wide and a look of horror crossed his face, a look only I saw, seeing as everyone else was staring at me. Remus gave e a look of such pleading in that moment, such utter desperation and hope that I felt I couldn't tell them. I felt that if I did, I would be causing the world to crash down around my shoulders. So, I didn't tell everyone. I said I had just figured out the plot in my book, and that it had completely surprised me. Then I shut my mouth. I didn't say another word until we had reached Hogsmeade. As I pulled my trunk from the rack above my head, Remus helped me lower it down, and before he moved on to his own trunk, while the others were fidgeting about with their things, he slipped me a bit of paper and put his finger to his lips in a gesture of silence. I knew what he wanted from me. He wanted me to keep it secret. Secret from his friends, my friends, his new girlfriend; he wanted to meet me later tonight, at half past 2 am, in the commons to tell me to keep it a secret. Because he didn't want me to tell them what I had really just figured out.

He didn't want me to tell them that he was a werewolf.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 9**

After a large deal of arguing and shoving, the nine of us managed to squeeze into one carriage together. I have no clue why we all decided to ride in the same one, there wasn't nearly enough room, but somehow we managed to all get inside. Rach ended up sitting on Remus's lap. I was in the middle, and on my other side was Becca, sitting on Sirius's lap. One the other side of the carriage Peter sat squished against the far side, Rebby sat next to him, then James, then Mikki.

"So, this is really uncomfortable. Why are we all in here together?" I asked.

"No idea, but I agree, it is way too squished in here." Mikki said.

"Maybe we should rearrange ourselves?" Peter squeaked out from his little corner.

"Good idea." Rebby said. We all stood up and moved around. Then we moved again because the new arrangement didn't work either. Eventually we had found an arrangement that worked. About five seconds later the carriage stopped in front of the school and it was time to get out. Peter had somehow ended up as the person closest to the door. He tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

"What's the hold up?" Sirius asked from the back. All of us were attempting to stand in the carriage, and it was not working out.

"The door's jammed." Peter said.

"Give me a try." Becca said, appearing out of nowhere.

"How did you get up here? You were in the very back with Sirius." I asked.

"I crawled." She gave me a wink and a smile and turned to the door. "Here's your problem Peter, it's locked." Becca unlocked the door and pushed it open. She stepped down from the carriage and was followed by Rebby. The rest of us, however, were forced out of the carriage only to fall flat on our faces when Sirius 'accidentally' shoved James.

"Why do I always end up at the bottom of the pile?" I asked no one in particular.

"Because we all love you so much!" Becca said, walking around the pile of people and looked down at me. "Let me give you a hand." She grabbed both of my hands and pulled, leaning all of her body weight into the movement. I was pulled from beneath the pile of people, slowly at first, then quicker once we got going.

I stood up and laughed at everyone else trying to get up. Sirius was standing to the side of the pile looking at it irritatedly and glancing at his watch every few seconds.

"Something wrong Sirius?"

"No, I'm just hungry is all, and they're taking forever to sort themselves out."

"When are boys not hungry?" I rolled my eyes. "Besides, the feast won't start until we're all inside anyways, and there are at least seventeen more carriages left."

"Right, whatever, would you guys hurry up?" Sirius said.

Once everyone had managed to stand back up, we made out way into the Great Hall and found some seats somewhere at the middle of the Gryffindor table. After about fifteen minutes and a long discussion on why boys are annoying, Dumbledore stood at the head table causing an immediate hush to fall over the entire room.

Once the room was quiet, Dumbledore took his seat and McGonagall entered with the first years in tow. Professor Flitwick had placed the stool and hat at the front of the room earlier, and now all of the first years were eyeing it with suspicion, anxiety, and, most of all, curiosity.

"Look at them; they're all a bunch of little midgets." Sirius said.

"Don't call them midgets, it's not nice. Call them munchkins; it's much more accurate anyways seeing as they're small and young." Becca giggled.

"And you two were never that small?" I asked them raising an eyebrow.

"No." stated Sirius simply.

"I was, but then I grew. And now I'm not. I refer to myself as a child as a munchkin all the time."

"You never talk about your child hood."

"Oh. Well, when I do, I will."

"Um, okay…"

The entire room focused it's attentions on the raggedy old sorting hat on the stool, waiting for the annual speech in poem form it usually gave about the four houses and such. This year we received a more, well, alarming message.

"Through all your years,

In this fine school,

I've watched you live,

Make friends and grow.

In all this time

I've come to see

A disturbing trend

That I can not leave be.

You befriend you room mates,

Your classmates, your house mates.

You befriend the ones

You think you are like.

My task to you,

Young Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs,

Gryffindors and Slytherines,

Is to unite one and all.

This time of glory,

This age of happiness,

Is about to meet

An unnatural end.

Save your anger

Throw out your hatred

Show only welcome

To those you see here.

A great threat is rising

A red sun is impending

But here in these walls

There is still a chance.

With you lies the fate

The destiny, if you will,

Of the years to come

Be it good, or bad.

Be you Gryffindor, Slytherine,

Hufflepuff, or Ravencalw

Form bonds of friendship

Not strings of hatred.

"Well, that was, um…" Rebby started.

"Yeah, I know." Rebby, Becca, Mikki and my eyes all met. We gave each other a slight nod, agreeing silently that we should start our extra training as soon as possible. If this sorting hat was talking about what we thought it was, then we needed to be ready in case we were needed to fight this impending doom. By the sounds of it, it wanted us to befriend people from all of the houses. Fat chance of that happening with people like Sirius and James around to cause trouble with the Slytherines, most particularly Snape. I still cannot figure out what their fascination is with thoroughly embarrassing him. It's not like he's ever done anything to them personally to make them want to torment him. Or has he? Maybe I was missing something here, a crucial event that started this whole thing.

"Abruzzi, Abigail." Professor McGonagall had started sorting the first years. We sat quietly and waited for the sorting to finish with "Zooberer, Janet." After McGonagall had cleared the stool and sorting hat from the front of the room, Dumbledore stood up to make his traditional beginning of term speech, which usually meant he would say a few odd words, then tell us to dig in. Not this year though. This year we received a warning instead.

"As the sorting hat so elegantly said, there is a threat rising in the wizarding world. You may have heard of, or been affected by, the attacks of a man who calls himself Lord Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters." Dumbledore paused, a grave look coming over his face. "As a result of his actions, Hogsmeade trips will be limited this year and a small contingent of Aurors will be present in the village at all times. I would like to take this moment to warn you that this is no laughing matter and the Aurors, while they may enjoy a civilized conversation, are not to be the recipients of any practical jokes." Dumbledore's eyes swept the room pausing momentarily at the marauders. "Also I would like to remind returning students and inform new one's that the Forbidden Forest is, as the name suggests, forbidden to all students. This year we also have a number of new teachers and faculty. Mr. Rancid, our former castle caretaker, has retired his position for the chance of living out his days in quiet and solitude."

"One down, one to go." Sirius whispered to James out of the corner of his mouth. Idiots.

"While he will be sorely missed, we welcome heartily his replacement, Mr. Filch. If you have any questions about items allowed on the castle premise, consult him, please. We also have a new Keeper of Keys and Grounds, a dear friend and former student, Mr. Rubius Hagrid." An impossibly large man stood up nervously at one end of the table and waved, then sat back down nearly knocking the head table over in the process. "Our former Potions teacher and Head of Slytherine house, Professor Slughorn, has retired as well. Head of Slytherine and potions master this year will be Professor Kettleburn." An elegant brunette in flowing black and green robes stood up and bowed her head slightly to the students, then took her seat.

"She's a pretty one." said James "She'll last about five minutes."

"Looks and gender do not determine a teacher, or any person's, ability." I said sharply.

"Professor Emling will be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." A blonde woman stood and gave a military salute to the students, causing a few of them to laugh.

"Blonde, pretty and funny, my favorite." Sirius said, winking at Becca who gave him a fake glare.

"Watch your cheeky little tongue, Black." she said wagging a finger at him in mock warning.

"I hope you will treat each of your new teachers with the same respect and kindness that you do your other Professors and myself. Now, let the feast begin!" Dumbledore took his seat as piles of food appeared on the golden platters.

"FOOD!" James, Sirius, Peter and Becca all said at once, and attacked a nearby plate of chicken. I looked at Becca with a raised eyebrow.

"What? I'm not allowed to be hungry?" she said between bites of mashed potatoes and gravy and fried chicken. I rolled my eyes and started to pile food onto my plate as well.

After dinner, we ran up to Gryffindor Tower before the first year rush and laid claim to the couch next to the fire place. We hung out for a while until I looked at my watch and noticed it was midnight. If I was going to meet Remus in the Astronomy Tower at 2:30 I was going to have to get the girls to bed soon. Oh, god, I'm starting to sound like my mother.

"Hey, it's getting pretty late, and I'm tired, why don't we hit the sack?" I asked the girls.

"But it's only 12:02. And it's a Friday, we don't have class until Monday." said Becca giving me the puppy dog look.

"True, but I have a super secret surprise planned for tomorrow morning, and you're going to want to get some rest for this, trust me." Ok, so it was a lie. I had no surprise planned, but I had to come up with something if I wanted to get them to bed. Besides, I'd make Remus help after he explained to me why he never told any of his friends that he's a werewolf.

"Can't they stay out a little bit longer mummy? Pretty please?" Sirius begged me. Remus jabbed him in the ribs while everyone was looking at me for a response and gave him a look that said "shut up you idiot".

"Nope! Bedtime! Let's go!" reluctantly I managed to pull the four of them off of the couch and up the stairs.

Once in our dorm room, the girls and I got ready for bed. Faces washed, clothes changed, teeth brushed, and goodnights said, we climbed into our beds and drifted off to sleep. Well, all except for me. I sat up for the next couple of hours thinking about what exactly Remus wanted to talk about. What his excuses would be. Most of all I thought about how I was going to make it to the top of the Astronomy tower without getting caught by a teacher. It turns out that was the last thing I needed to worry about.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 10**

At precisely 1:45 am I climbed silently out of my bed, slipped on my robe and ballet flats and snuck out of the room. I looked down at the common rooms from the rail at the top of the stairs. It was empty; the only noise was the crackling of the fireplace. I crept down the stairs and made my way towards to entrance hole and was just three steps from it when a voice called out to me from behind making me jump and turn around in surprise.

"Lily."

"Who's there?" I asked.

"Just me." James Potter leaned his head out from behind a winged arm chair and smiled at me. "Where are you headed in the middle of the night?"

"The Astronomy Tower."

"Lily Evans? Out of bounds? In the middle of the night? And in her pajamas no less. Why I'll be damned."

"Very funny Potter. I assume you knew about this 'meeting' I have with Remus tonight?"

"Yup, and I'm your escort. Now if you'll be kind enough to step underneath this cloak, we'll be on our way." James stood up and held out a silky silver piece of fabric that seemed to shimmer in the light.

"An invisibility cloak! Where did you get one of these? These are very rare!" I rushed forward and grasped the silky material, turning it this way and that in my eagerness to examine it.

"I'll tell you later. We're going to be late if you don't hurry up and get under it. I promise you can play with the new toy later." He rolled his eyes at me. Well, he had shifted underneath the cloak, so I didn't see him roll his eyes; I could just feel it in his voice though. He verbally rolled his eyes. Is that even possible? Who knows?

I lifted the cloak over my head and scooted over next to James. We walked out of the common room and headed in the direction of the Astronomy Tower.

"So, come here often?" James said trying to make conversation.

"Where did you get this cloak?" I asked.

"My father gave it to me just before he…"

"Just before he what?"

"Just before he died. He was murdered actually, Voldemort and his lot." James grew silent.

"Oh… I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay. My mother works for the Daily Prophet. She had enough sway there at the time to keep it out of the papers. Few people really know about it, just friends and family really."

"When did he…?"

"This past summer, at the end of June, just after I got home for the summer holiday. I was at Remus's house for, you know, the change, and mum was working late digging up a story. It was bound to happen sometime, da's always been good at making enemies."

"He was an Auror, right?"

"Yeah. He was bloody good at his job too. Probably it was that that got him killed. Probably he was too good at his job and Voldemort didn't like that."

"I'm so sorry…"

"Don't be. My father always said we shouldn't feel sorry for the dead or the ones they leave behind, we should feel sorry for the dumb bastard that kills them. When my grandfather died a few years ago, da told me that death is just another part of life. He said that you should live your life to it's fullest, take chances, and that way, when you die, you know you've lived your life well and you know that your loved ones know that as well, so you have no regrets."

"That was very wise of him."

"He had his moments. After the funeral, at the wake, Dumbledore asked to talk to me in private. He told me "To the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." Then he told me that my father was, if nothing else a very organized and courageous man."

"He's a very interesting man, Dumbledore. Wise, intelligent, eccentric, and, above all else, he is kind."

"Yes, yes he is." James nodded "Here we are." We turned a corner and I realized we were already at the door at foot of the stairs that lead to the top of the Astronomy Tower. James knocked three times on the door and I heard a lock click just before the door opened and Sirius stepped through.

"Hello, mate, Lily." Sirius nodded to each of us in turn. "Lily, Remus is up top." James pulled the invisibility cloak off of us and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Where's Peter?"

"He's up there with Remus."

"Go on up Lily, Moony told us to stay down here and wait until he called us up."

"Okay." I nodded to Sirius and James, then turned and walked up the stairs, passing Peter halfway up on his way down. When I reached the top I took a deep breath and opened the door leading outside to the roof.

I opened the door and stepped into the mild night air. "Remus?" I asked the dark space in front of me.

"Over here." Remus said from my right near the edge of the wall.

I walked to the sound of his voice. "It's awfully dark out here tonight." I said, leaning against the parapet.

"It gets that way at night when it's over caste."

"Or when there's no moon." I could see Remus's head bow and his shoulders slump in the dark. "You want to tell me what this meeting is about before I start jumping to conclusions?"

Remus sighed and scratched the back of his head. "I suppose I should explain myself." He stood up from the parapet and looked around. "Um, let's sit over here; there are a couple of chairs I think in this corner." We walked over to the corner of the tower he had gestured to finding two lawn chairs and sitting in them. Remus scooted his chair around so he was facing me and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "First off, as you have probably guessed, I'm a werewolf."

"Yeah, it kind of clicked on the train." I said quietly looking down at my hands.

"Well, it happened when I was a little kid, about 7 years old. I was out camping with my uncle and cousins. It was the middle of the night and I walked out into the woods a bit to go to the restroom. While I was gone, Fenrir Greyback came upon the camp. Do you know who that is?"

"He's that, um, werewolf that's working with Voldemort, right?"

"Yeah, and he's giving werewolves a bad name, has been since the day he was bitten I presume. He's blood thirsty and vengeful and he actually enjoys the pain and suffering he causes." Remus had worked himself into an angry tone. He paused a moment, calming himself down, then continued. "Well, Greyback came upon our camp and killed my Uncle and two cousins while I was in the woods. I didn't even know anything was happening until I heard the screams. My older cousin was killed first, while he was sleeping Fenrir ripped his throat out. My younger cousin had been sharing a tent with me and I guess she heard her brother's tent rustling and went to see what was going on. Her scream was what warned me of the attack. As soon as I heard her I ran towards our campsite. I got there just in time to see my uncle get tackled by the beast, his wand in his hand. I was so scared I couldn't even scream properly, I just let out strangled little squeak, but he heard me. He came for me then; I fell over backwards and crawled back until my back was up against a tree trunk. He was just about to tear into to me as well when I heard voices yelling in the distance. They weren't the voices of the two men he had with him, they were going through the tents taking any valuables I guess. Greyback looked up and listened, then growled and turned back to me, he seemed to almost leer at me in pleasure, then he bit me. He bit me right here, on the shoulder." Remus sat up for the first time and slid the shoulder of his pajamas down his arm exposing a thin, jagged curve of flesh lighter than the rest. It was a gruesome scar, made worse by the knowledge of the events leading up to it. "It was bigger once, it's healed a lot since I started school here."

I looked at Remus, tears coming to my eyes. I wanted to tell him it would be all right, that everything would be fine. I wanted to hold him in my arms like you would a frightened little boy. The look on his face while he had described the attack on his family and himself had been that of a scared little boy. Rightfully so considering what he had been through. "Remus, I…" I choked back a sob and could think of nothing else to do but what I did then. I stood up and engulfed Remus in a huge hug. He seemed overly surprised by this reaction.

"Um… Lily?" Remus said nervously.

I sat back down in my chair. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just so sad… and when you were telling me you just looked so, so… vulnerable and frightened… you just looked like you could use a hug…" I tapered off.

"Well, the men I had heard were Aurors. They came through the clearing and carried me off to the hospital. I don't remember much after that until I went home. Since then until I came to school here I spent every full moon locked in a steel lined shed about a hundred yards from my house. I met James and Sirius at a dinner party a year before I came here and we became fast friends. We met Peter a little later. At the time I didn't think there was much hope of a werewolf getting into Hogwarts, so the three of them were going to be my, well, my life line to Hogwarts. They were going to learn all they could and then come back and teach it to me on the holidays and such.

"Then I met Dumbledore. A Great man, Dumbledore. He came to the house one day and asked to speak with me. He asked me if I really wanted to go to Hogwarts. And I told him I wanted it more than anything in the world. He got up and left then, handing my parents two envelopes on his way out. One was my acceptance letter, the other contained a list of instructions and precautions we would be taking while I was at school." Remus smiled slightly "I was so excited I grabbed the letter and ran straight to the fireplace and flooed to James's house to tell him. Anyways, that's how it happened and how I ended up here."

"It explains you nickname as well, though the other's nick names don't make much sense."

"They should in a moment. I need you to promise me Lily, swear to me that you won't tell anyone what I am? Not even your friends, our friends?"

"Remus, I'm sure they would understand, honestly…"

"Lily, right now Fenrir Greyback is working with this Voldemort character and helping him attack people, muggles and wizards alike. Right now, werewolves are among the most feared and distrusted creatures on the planet."

"Okay, fine, I swear I won't tell them, but" I looked Remus straight in the eyes "If they figure it out on their own, if they figure out that something is going on and that I know what it is, I'm coming straight to you. Then you will be the one to tell them why I've been lying to them, okay?"

"Fair enough." Remus and I shook hands, and then he stood up and walked to the door to the stairs and called down to the guys to come up.

I stood up as well and crossed my arms over my chest. James, Sirius and Peter walked through the door and stood next to Remus. "Did you tell her?" James asked cautiously.

"She already knew what I was, figured it out on the train. That's what I get, I suppose, for making friends with the smartest girl in our class."

"Well, I don't know about smartest in our class…" I said blushing. I hoped no one could see the brilliant shade of pink my cheeks had surely turned. Maybe I was lucky and the darkness was hiding it.

"So, did you tell her about, well, the other thing?" Sirius asked Remus.

"No, but I think we should tell her. It's only fair that she know, now that she knows about me. Otherwise she might pull the same stunt you idiots did in first year."

"What? We didn't know any better. We just wanted to know why our best mate kept wandering off into the woods with the nurse once a month."

"Wait, you guys found out by following him?"

"Yeah, not one of our brightest moments…" James said embarrassed.

"So what's the other big secret you all are keeping? Remus said it has something to do with your nick names…"

"Perhaps it's best if we show you." Remus acquired a completely different attitude, that of a ring leader introducing the main act. "Lily Evans, may I present to you, Padfoot," one minute Sirius was a man, then he was a big black shaggy dog "Wormtail," Peter shrank into a little brown rat "And Prongs." James grew into a big beautiful black stag.

I just stood there, staring at them, each in turn, first Peter on the end as a rat, then Sirius in the middle as a big fluffy dog. Finally James at the other end in the form of a giant deer with big pointy antlers. My eyes grew to the size of tea saucers and my jaw dropped. "You're animagi!" I exclaimed.

Dog Sirius, or Padfoot, barked happily and pounced on me, forcing me to fall to the ground, and then proceeded to lick my face, getting slobber all over me. Prongs came over and pushed Padfoot off of me with his antlers, then gave me an elegant bow, before standing back up. They all transformed back into people and smiled at me.

"You're not going to tell anyone, right?" Remus asked.

"I gave you my word. I don't break my promises, but you better uphold your end of the deal, Remus. Becca and Rebby may be a little weird sometimes, and they may act dumb, but they're pretty fast to catch on to things like this. Mikki you don't have to worry about as much, she might not notice if you hide it well enough. And I don't know very much about Rachel, but if you're going to date her, I suggest you tell her at some point. I'm not going to take the fall with my friends if you dolts can't keep a secret properly."

"Yes, mother, I think we'll be just fine. We have been keeping this secret from you for the last five years, now haven't we?" Sirius said.

"You know what, I'm just trying to help, okay? So shove off and get out of my face."

"Oh, tough girl."

"And now you're going to mock me? That's very mature."

"Okay guys, break it up. I never thought I'd say this, but stop arguing, that's my job." James intervened.

"Fine." I huffed crossing my arms and pursing my lips.

"Whatever." Sirius glared at me.

"I talked to the girls. First meeting is tomorrow. Meet us in the commons at 5 o'clock." I pushed past Sirius, all attitude, and turned back as I opened the door. "And you may want to bring that cloak of yours James, as well as the map, it could be handy." I turned my back to them and walked back to the commons. Who needs an escort to get back undetected? Not me. No sir-e… which, of course, is why I almost ended up with a detention when I bumped into a seventh year Ravenclaw prefect. Good news is I got out of it because I knew the girl pretty well and said I had gone to see Madame Pomfry for a head ache and forgotten to get a note.

When I finally made it back to my dorm, I stumbled in half asleep and flopped on my bed, my brain barely registering the fact that my alarm clock said it was 5:37 am, and that in another four hours, I had to wake up and take my friends to their surprise.

Oops.

When I woke up the next morning it was to the sound of Becca asking rather loudly "Wait, what happened to Windara and Reija?" I sat up and looked at the two beds empty beds in our dorm room. That was odd.

"Where are they? Did anyone see them on the train?" I asked. Windara and Reija are the other two girls in our dorm. We have a large group for some reason, seven girls instead of the usual four or five. I hadn't seen either of them on the train or at the feast, but I hadn't even noticed, most likely because our group was so big to begin with. I could excuse myself for not noticing that Reija wasn't here, she was friends with Rachel more than us, but Windara is one of my best friends. How could I have forgotten? Apparently no one else had noticed either. "Okay, this can't be good. Let's split up, Rachel and Mikki, you check the other dorms, just in case our dear friends went to the wrong ones." I rolled my eyes, this was something they would definitely do. "Then go check the great hall. Rebby, Becca, lets go see if we can't find Professor Dumbledore or McGonagall. Maybe they know where the two of them are." We all finished getting dressed then split up to search for the two girls.

"Okay, from now on they are code named the 'little lost lambs'. Got it?" Becca said as we walked towards McGonagall's office.

"Why not the 'little lost puppies'? Or the 'little lost llamas'?" Rebby asked.

"The 'little lost llamas'? What the heck?" I asked giving Rebby my 'your talking crazy' look.

"What? I like llamas…"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Here's McGonagall's office." We stopped in front of the door to her office and I knocked loudly on the door, knowing her office to be rather large.

"Come in." we heard a voice from inside call.

We opened the door and walked up to Professor McGonagall's desk, where the nice, but strict, teacher was shuffling through some papers. Upon closer inspection the papers turned out to be class schedules.

"May I help you ladies?"

"Yes, we were wandering if you knew where Windara Windstorm and Reija Filatov? We didn't see them last night and they weren't in their beds when we woke up."

"They weren't? Have you checked the other dorms? Perhaps they got confused?"

"We're having out other friend check them Professor, as well as the Great Hall, but we were wondering if you could take us to see Professor Dumbledore, he always seems to know the answer to questions like this."

"Well, yes I suppose I should take you to see Albus, he needs to be informed if some of his students are missing."

"Thank you Professor." We followed Professor McGonagall out of her office and towards Dumbledore's office. Eventually we reached a statue of a stone gargoyle which jumped aside when McGonagall gave it the password 'snicker doodle'. We all hopped onto the spiral staircase, except Professor McGonagall whose hop was more of a big graceful step. When the stairs reached the top, McGonagall reached out to knock on Dumbledore's office door, but was beaten to the punch by Dumbledore's voice calling from inside "Come in Minerva."

"I hate when he does that." I heard McGonagall mutter under her breath.

We walked into the office and Dumbledore gestured for us to sit down. "Now surely these fine young ladies haven't already broken the rules Minerva." Dumbledore smiled at us, a twinkle in his eye.

"No, Albus, they came to me about their friends, Miss Windstorm and Miss Filatov, the two apparently have not yet arrived."

"Well, now, that is a problem, but one for which I have the answer. Your friends will be arriving any minute now. They were delayed by unforeseeable circumstances which I believe they would rather explain to you themselves. Now, why don't you three go down to the Great Hall and have yourselves some breakfast? I think I shall accompany you. Minerva? Are you going to join us as well?"

"Yes, Albus, I think I shall, the class schedules can wait an hour to e sorted."

We all headed down to the Great Hall for some breakfast. People kept stopping and staring at us like we were gods or something because we were walking around with the Headmaster and the Deputy Headmistress. When we reached the Great Hall we were greeted by two people tackling the three of us, Rebby, Becca and I, not the Professors, to the ground.

"BECCA! REBBY! LILY!" the two girls yelled. I still have no clue why tackling people became our usual greeting. To this day I do not know how it came about.

"Win! Reij! There you two are! We thought you'd gotten kidnapped or something. We even went and talked to Dumbledore, er, sorry sir, Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall about where you were." Becca said.

"Yeah, we'll explain that later. Right now let's get some food, I'm starving!" Win exclaimed, walking over to the Gryffindor table where they had been getting ready to sit with Mikki, Rachel and the Marauders. "By the way, since when do we sit with these blokes? I thought we hated them because they were egotistical morons who treated girls like objects and dirt?"

"Well, yes, but that was before Lily made Becca and I trip down the stairs and land on top of them at Diagon Alley, then some how managed to save James's life by giving him CPR. Then we all got drunk and James and Lily played a joke on the rest of us, including Rachel, who we ran into in Diagon Alley and is now dating Remus, and Mikki, who turned up just after the CPR bit. Then Sirius got taken down by Becca, which somehow led to the two of them making out and ending up dating. Then we all came here, which involved all of us piling into one carriage, why I don't know, and, well, here we are." Rebby said all in one breathe. We stared at her. "What?"

"So, where were you two?" I asked.

"Um, later, okay? Not a conversation for the middle of the Great Hall during breakfast." Win said out of the corner of her mouth to me.

"First meeting is tonight, you can tell us then." I whispered back.

"Okay."

We finished breakfast and went down to sit by the lake for a while. Our group's numbers had increased from nine to twelve to include Win, Rei, and William, Win's twin brother and the fifth boy in the Marauder's dorm.


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 11**

The day passed swiftly as things tend to do when you're having fun. By 4 o'clock everyone had tired of lazing around the lake doing nothing. Most were hungry and full of energy.

"Alright! First to the Great Hall gets to sit next to me!" Sirius exclaimed, jumping up from the ground.

"That's a prize?" Lily asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yes." He smiled cockily at her.

"Well, go for it, but it won't do you much good as we're all going to a meeting now, not dinner."

"Oh… James, can you please tell your woman to let us get some dinner first?"

"I'm NOT his woman!"

"She's not my woman," I looked at her and smiled sweetly "yet."

"Really, Sirius, you shouldn't talk about women like they are possessions, it's unfair and – " Remus was interrupted mid-speech by Becca.

"And if you ever refer to me as 'your woman' I'll kick your ass, got it?"

"Yes ma'am." Sirius saluted her mockingly, which made Becca roll her eyes.

"He is so whipped." Peter said.

"Yes, our little Sirius is all grown up. He's finally found the value of a nice bossy woman to keep him in line, out of trouble, and completely and utterly whipped." I added. "Just like Lily."

"Hey! I'm not whipped!"

"Yes you are hun." Becca said off handedly.

"Yes I am."

"Good boy." Becca continued her conversation with Rebby and Win.

"He's totally whipped." Peter said again.

"I give him three weeks before he cracks."

"And you call yourself his best friend?" Remus asked smiling slightly and raising an inquisitive eyebrow.

"Yes, yes I do."

"Well, in that case, I've got a galleon on two weeks and a day."

"Oh, high roller, huh?"

"What can I say, I like to live dangerously. What about you peter?"

"Well, maybe you two are blind, but I've seen how long Sirius's 'relationships' last. One week, two days." Peter handed Remus, the only one everyone trusted to keep track and not spend the money accidentally, 12 sickles.

"Sirius, you want to get in on this action?" I offered.

"Wait, that wouldn't be very fair, he's the one we're betting on." Remus pointed out.

"Oh, right. How about you Will?" I turned to face him.

"Are we betting on how long until he breaks up with her or cheats on her?"

"The actual break up date, some of them manage to stick to him through one skank." I decided.

"I've got…" Will took out his money pouch and dug through it. "16 sickles and four knuts on two weeks flat."

"I'm glad to know you have so much faith in me guys."

"Not you, Sirius, your libido." I said smiling.

"You're one to talk. You can't hold onto a girlfriend because you're always pining over someone else." Sirius nodded his head in the direction of Lily, who was walking with Mikki and Rei a few steps behind us.

"Ha ha, very funny. This year will be different though. I may have given up on 'the plan' but I'm still going to calm down on the whole 'pursuing Lily' thing. This year I'm only going to date girls if I really like them, not just because they're hot or I think it'll make Lily jealous."

"Big words, I got four galleons on you eat them."

"You're on." Sirius and I shook hands and kept on walking.

"So that's four galleons on whether or not James sticks to his new resolution." Remus was taking notes in a small black book. "The bets for Sirius's relationship with Becca are Will, 16 sickles and four knuts on two weeks; Peter, 12 sickles on one week, two days; my self, 1 galleon on two weeks and a day. James, how much is your bet for?"

"You know Remus, if the whole being smart thing doesn't work out for you, you could always become a bookie." I rolled my eyes. "Put me down for 2 galleons, I've got a good feeling about this one."

"James, 2 galleons on three weeks. Gentlemen, the betting table is closed." Remus flipped the little booklet shut and stuffed it into a pocket. And people think _he's_ the well behaved, shy one who keeps _us_ in line. Please.

By now we had reached the doors to the castle. We split up. Lily, Rebby, Mikki, and Win went to the Great Hall, Library, and the Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff house commons. Rachel and Rei ran ahead to the Gryffindor Tower with Becca to see if they could round up people who might be lazing about in the commons. Sirius, Remus, Peter, Will and I took our sweet time walking up to the Gryffindor Tower to get my invisibility cloak and the Marauders Map, of which Will knew nothing about. He just thought we were all going to meet there.

Once we were inside the Gryffindor commons, I said I had to go to the restroom and vanished up the stairs and into our dorm. After digging out my cloak and map I walked back down and sat on the couch with the guys. We were soon joined by Becca, Rach, Rei and a couple of fourth and fifth years and one seventh year. We made introductions and had a brief conversation about our summers before Lily popped her head through the portrait hole and gestured for us to come with her.

We followed Lily down the hall where we met up with the rest of our group, a couple of Ravenclaw sixth years, a couple of Hufflepuffs of undetermined year, and a couple more Gryffindor fifth years. Mikki, Win and Rebby were standing to the side of them have a conversation in hushed tones. Mikki was the one talking, her back facing the approaching group. Just before we reached them she was shushed by Win before she could finish her sentence. I had been close enough to hear her say "Well why don't they just go out? Those two are perfect for each other, and neither of them sees it. Especially-"

Suspicious behavior is your first clue that someone is plotting something behind your back, like a hostel take over or your imminent demise. This was very curious. I wander if it has anything to do with where we were having this 'meeting' tonight. I felt like a two year old following Lily and the other girls around like they were our first grade teachers. "Alright class, single file now. Hold hands with the person in front of you and the person in back. James, would you like to be the line leader today?" I only lasted about five minutes at muggle elementary school. My parents enrolled me so that I wouldn't get caught up in the anti-muggle society that seemed to be building at the time. That and they needed somewhere to send me during the day while they were at work. Somehow sending me off to spend the day with a bunch of muggle children who thought unicorns were purple and muggle teachers who thought magic didn't exist was preferable to me spending the day with the butler and the house elves. Parents are weird.

Thankfully after Billy Thompson spilled glue on my drawing and I made him float around the room like a Kleenex on the breeze, my parents decided I should probably be home schooled like the rest of the wizarding children. My mother had hired a private tutor to teach me the basics in math, writing, reading, etc. and this was where I had first met Sirius. We had the same tutor and, once I had caught up, our sessions had been combined. Those were the good ole days. Back when a guy could runaround like a wild hippogriff and be disciplined by none. What? My parents weren't neglectful, just busy. Of course I didn't see much of them when I was younger because they were always out but- "Oof!" I had walked right into Lily's back. That's what I get for not paying attention.

"_Thank you_ James. I needed to be knocked over today. This just completes the whole day. Now I can rest easy tonight knowing that I had a full day, including getting knocked down by you, my _favorite_ event." Her voice was just leaking sarcasm. You could practically see it dripping down her mouth and landing on the floor in a big puddle of sarcastic goop. I need to get my brain checked; that was a horrible metaphor type thing.

"Sorry Lils, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

"Do you _ever_ pay attention to _anything_?"

"Yes, on occasion I pay attention to-" at this point I had planned on saying 'your ass' but I thought that perhaps she wouldn't appreciate this comment. Better to save that one for Sirius later. Instead I finished out with "Dumbledore, mainly because his sense of humor amuses me. It's actually quite similar to-"

"I don't care, Potter. Now, watch what I do so you know bloody well how to get in yourself next time."

"What? We're here? But there aren't any rooms along this corridor."

"That's what you think." Lily sashayed away, then back, then away again. When she passed a certain point, a door appeared in the wall to her left. "Make sure you think about a place for defense practice and tutoring when you walk past the spot."

I looked over my shoulder at Sirius and Remus who also looked surprised that Lily Evans, the one who follows _all_ of the rules, no matter how silly, had discovered a secret room that the Marauders had not. Also, the universe has just come to a standstill and pigs are flying.

Lily opened the door and we all filed in after her. The room was filled with squishy chairs and couches on one end next to a big fireplace, a large platter of finger foods on a table in the center. At the other end was a large open space, the floor of which was matted and the walls around it padded; perfect for dueling practice. The walls around the couch area were covered in shelves filled with books, most on defensive magic, a few on charms and transfiguration. I was completely stunned.

"Welcome," Lily said, smiling satisfactorily at my amazed expression, "to the Room of Requirements."

"So this is why you wanted me to bring the you-know-what, so that we can add it, right?"

"Yes, that and just in case we leave late and need to avoid teachers." She turned to Becca who had brought a backpack full of all the books Lily had bought over the summer for defense with her. "Becca would you take the books out and put them on that table right there? Everyone, gather round this table, I've got some announcements to make." She waited while everyone shuffled over next to the table. "Okay, So this year meetings will be scheduled for every Thursday and Friday unless you receive an owl saying otherwise from me, Rebby, or Becca."

Rebby and Becca, who were standing next to Lily, stood up straight and saluted, military style. "Ma'am, reporting for duty ma'am!" they said in unison.

"Also, we have some new people joining us, I believe you know or have at least heard of the Marauders."

"Um, why are they here?" one of the Ravenclaws asked. It was a girl who had spoken up, she had black eyes set into a heart shaped face outlined by black hair. She crossed her arms over her curvy frame and gave raised an eyebrow at Lily, occasionally glancing at Sirius with menace. Wait, I know her…

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" Sirius asked, a confused look on his face. Way to go Sirius.

"_Yes_, you _do_ know me. We _dated_ for two weeks!" the girl was now extremely mad. This was not good.

"They are here because I invited them to be here." Lily said with a severe note in her voice. Sometimes she sounded like McGonagall. It was scary. "Now, Marley, Sirius, shake hands, make up, move on, and get over it. We're no here to berate Sirius for his dating habits, though someone at some point probably should." She threw Remus and I dirty looks.

"Hey, don't look at me, I'm the voice of reason, remember?" Remus said, raising both hands in a gesture of innocence.

I raised an eyebrow at him then turned back to Lily and said "Yeah, guilty as charged, I'll be sure to beat him severely with a rolled up newspaper when we get home." I gave her a wink, and she rolled her eyes and turned back to the small crowd of people.

"I picked up some new books on defense this summer while I was in Diagon Alley. You can thank James Potter, our new financial backer, for that." I gave the people a smile and a wink, raising up on my toes and rocking back to my heels. What? It's a nervous reaction. "Most of the books are on magical defenses, but we also picked up some books on different forms of martial arts. This year I'd like to work on some wandless defense as well." There was a lot of excited murmuring at this, especially from the guys. "All right, that's it. Let's break into groups and search through these new books for some spells to work on next time." With that everyone took a book and wandered off to their own little corner to look through the books.

Sirius, Remus, Peter and I picked a few books and sat in the middle of the dueling area. We delved into the books, only talking when one of us found a spell we thought might be useful. Occasionally Sirius or I would throw a paper airplane of make gusts of wind flip the pages on the books. After two hours of research, one of our gusts of wind finally got to someone, namely Remus, who then proceeded to make Sirius's book float into the air and drop onto his head. A mock duel ensued, the victor of which was impossible to determine as Sirius had cast a laughing charm at Remus at the same moment that Remus had cast the , resulting in neither of them being fit to continue the mock duel.

Their actions had attracted a small crowd of spectators, including Lily, who was trying desperately not to laugh at them, and Rebby and Becca, who were plotting something sinister if the look on their faces was any kind of clue. Lily got control of her self and walked over to the two boys, releasing them from the curses.

"Alright, everyone pair up and go over the basics. That's enough research for one night, as these two boneheads have just proven." Lily gestured to Remus and Sirius who lay exhausted on the floor. Everyone split up and worked on basic shielding spells and curses and counter curses. At around 10:30 everyone took a break for some dinner, then continued with either research, last minute summer homework, or dueling practice. People didn't start to filter out of the room to get back to their dorms until around midnight. At some point Peter left with Will, Mikki, Win, and Rei. They were followed shortly by Remus and Rach. The only people left were Lily, Rebby, Becca, Sirius, and I.

"Okay, we're going to call it a night, you want us to grab the books?" Rebby asked as she walked towards the door with Becca.

"No, I'll get them." Lily turned and walked over to the pile of books and began putting them into the backpack.

"Ready to go, mate?" Sirius asked me. "If we walk fast we can catch up to Rebby and Becca." Lily was still picking up books and putting them into the backpack. Now I'm not stupid, I know an opportunity when I see one.

"Yeah, you go on ahead, I'll be along in a minute." I said to him, and then walked to the far end of the room where Sirius, Peter, Remus, and I had left our books earlier. I carried the books over to Lily and handed them to her to put into the bag.

"Oh, thanks." She said, taking the books and shoving them into the backpack as well. The thing was so full I was pretty sure that if she picked it up she would fall over backwards.

She attempted to put the bag on her shoulders, but couldn't get it off the table. "Here," I said, picking up the bag and putting it on my own shoulders instead.

"Um, thanks." She said. Her tone was somewhere between grateful and suspicious with a touch of embarrassment and sarcasm thrown in.

We stepped out of the Room of Requirements, the door vanishing behind us, and proceeded down the hall towards the Gryffindor Tower. I checked my map occasionally, making sure to avoid any corridors leading to teachers. After a while Lily asked "This isn't just some scheme to butter me up before asking me out again, is it?"

"What? The book carrying?"

"No, the new attitude; you being nice, your lack of ego, your helpfulness, all of it; the entire friendship thing we're working on here. It's not just leading up to you asking me to Hogsmeade the first chance you get, is it?"

I paused before I answered the question. "Well, not purposefully. I'm trying to show you the real me, not the me that attacks you daily with requests for dates, snogging sessions, and marriage." I smirked at the last bit. "I still like you, and I still want to ask you out. I'm just being patient. Playing hard to get." I gave her a sly wink "I'm waiting for you to come to me."

"Your reasoning in this is?"

"I figure, you don't want to go out with me because I'm a git most of the time, all of the time around you thus far. And you don't want to go out with me because I won't leave you alone. My theory is, if I leave you be, let you have some space and see the real me, the 'me' that isn't a git, then maybe you'll come around." Lily snorted in amusement. "I'm not saying it'll be instantaneous, I know it won't, and I'm not saying it'll work, but I figure, what the hell? It's worth a try. To use a muggle cliché, I'm putting the ball in your court, you're in charge, and you get the next move. All I can do is sit around and hope you'll come around." I looked over at her. She was walking with a bowed head, thinking hard by the looks of it. She nodded her head slightly and kept walking.

The rest of the trip back to the tower was silent. We didn't talk until we got back to the commons and I gave her the backpack full of books and told her goodnight. She just nodded silently in response, just as she had after my 'speech' in the corridor, took the bag, and walked up the stairs. I watched her go, not sure if I had done the right thing by telling her why I had had my sudden change of attitude. So far, it looked as if I hadn't. If I was lucky she would just act a little embarrassed around me for a couple of days. If I wasn't, she'd probably run off and file for a restraining order. And things weren't looking up.

So much for 'honesty is the best policy'.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 12**

Ever since I was a little girl the thing I've wished for, hoped for, and dreamed about most, has been to find true love, get married and live happily ever after. So far I've had three boyfriends that I thought I loved. There was a severe flaw in each of them though.

My first boyfriend was Sammy, and he wasn't anywhere near in love with me. That was okay, I didn't actually love him either, but it didn't mean that it was okay for him to cheat on me. Matthew said he loved me, and acted like he loved me, but when it really came down to it, he loved making out with me. He also felt the necessity to lie to me anytime I wanted to hang out with him and just talk. Jonathan was my most recent boyfriend. He was in love with my reputation as one of the smartest girls in school and, for some reason, my looks. Apparently he had a thing for red heads, a thing for red heads that led him to hit on my friends with red hair. All in all, none of them were really Prince Charming material.

I tell you this so that you under stand why I hate James Potter so much. I mean, he is a womanizing ego maniac who puts to much stock in himself. The reason I hate him has more to do with my own short comings, however.

You see, as much as I detest his moral and personality related short comings, he does hold this all around charm to me. He's really hot, for one thing, no matter how much I try to deny it. He's smart and learns fast in class. He's good at quidditch and his personality includes a general charm that seems to work on everyone. To top it all off, he is the only boy who has ever chased me. He proclaims his love for me daily, sends me flowers regularly, and only ever has nice things to say to me. To top it all off, he's the only guy who has ever been completely honest with me. What can I possibly have against him? You ask. What is wrong with me that makes me turn him down at every corner? I'll tell you.

He scares the bloody hell out of me. When I first met him on the train in first year, I was instantly in love, or at least, in like with him. I kept silent for three years, hoping he'd notice me, hoping he'd fall for me as well. Then I watched him go through girl after girl in fourth year like they were toys, only distracting him for a couple of weeks before he tossed them to the curb. He did this nicely, of course; always telling them in person and explaining why he was breaking up with them. I started to hate him for the way he treated women. The scary thing is his reasoning for breaking up with them became me halfway through the year.

He started telling them that he loved someone else; me. Then he would send them on their way and attempt to ask me out. At first I turned him down because of the way he asked, all full of him self and over confident. Then I turned him down just to hurt him, to strike out for the girls he had dated and dumped for no reason. His efforts to get me to date him doubled in our fifth year; he dated other girls less and asked me out two or three times a day. It became an automatic response for me to say no to him. No matter what he asked me, the first answer that came out of my mouth was always 'no'. After our O.W.L exams in fifth year, he even attempted to blackmail me into dating him by holding Snape upside down. I'm not particularly attached to Snape, but he never did anything to me personally and I was a Prefect, so I stood up for him.

As if none of this was enough, on the train home he came to my compartment and practically begged me for a chance, saying how much he loved me and everything. I lost my temper and yelled at him, telling him he was the most immature person I had ever met. His response to this was to ask me to marry him. My response to his marriage proposal was a good right hook to his face and stomping away. Not the most mature response, I know.

The real reason I hate James Potter is because he scares me senseless. He practically worships me. He practically stalks me. His pure intensity is frightening. Add to this the fact that I'm attracted to him as well, and you have a recipe for one thing: an automatic response of 'run and hide'.

Now that you know why I hate James Potter, I'm sure you understand why his telling me that he was changing for me, that he was going to stop being a womanizing jerk and chasing me around like a little lost puppy because I said it was immature once, when one of his closest friends had told him that for years and he had ignored him was scary. I'm sure that when you take this into consideration, you'll understand why I walked around for the next two weeks pretending I didn't even know him. I would speak civilly with him when he initiated conversation, but I wouldn't acknowledge his presence otherwise.

Becca told me I was being silly when I told her about it. She said I was just afraid of actually getting my 'happily ever after'. She was the only one I told so the others were completely confused at my behavior.

James, for his part, was acting oddly as well. He wasn't chasing me anymore, as he had promised he wouldn't. He also wasn't dating anyone. He was approached by a lot of giggling girls with requests for him to go to Hogsmeade with them or the go for a walk by the lake, but he turned every single one of them down saying that he wasn't dating at the moment. Then he would glance at me and continue doing what ever he was doing, which was usually studying or eating. That was another thing. James had started studying and reading, something I would never have thought possible for him to do by choice. Sirius thought he was sick or something. Remus would give him worried looks every now and then. Peter seemed completely oblivious to everything, poor guy.

I needed to talk to James that much was obvious. He was acting odd and I had a feeling it was because of the way I was acting towards him. The third week into school I finally worked up the courage to do just that. After breakfast we both had a study hall. With Becca's help I managed to get him alone in an empty classroom with out any of the others noticing our absence.

"What's this about, Lily?" he asked me as I closed the door behind me and turned to face him. I slumped back against the door, head bowed, eyes closed and sighed. "Lily?" There was concern in his voice now. Not joking concern, genuine worry over my behavior.

I took a deep breath and stood up straight again. "This is about you acting completely worthless."

"Worthless?"

"Yes, worthless. You realize you haven't made a joke in two weeks? You haven't pulled a single prank. You've been doing your homework on time and even studying."

"This is bad?"

"For anyone else, no; for you it's completely unheard of. If this was because you were failing a class or something it would make sense, but you don't even have to work to get straight A's. Your acting odd and I want to know why."

"Why do you care? You've been practically ignoring me for the last three weeks."

"I care because you're friends are getting worried about you. I care because I'm getting worried about you." I gave him my best look of concern and he brushed his hair back with his hand in frustration. He walked over to a dusty old table and sat on it.

"I'm acting odd because I'm trying to be what you want me to be. I'm trying to be mature and grown up."

"First of all, you shouldn't change yourself for some girl. Second, by mature I didn't mean that you should completely change your identity. Joking around is a good thing, especially these days."

"Lily, you're not just 'some girl' to me, that's why I'm trying to change for you, to prove that to you."

"I know, and that's the point, you shouldn't have to."

"So basically I have no chance of ever going out with you?" He asked, a look of utter defeat on his face.

I felt the compulsion to tell him the truth rise to the surface, but I pushed it back, offering it a compromise of telling him part of the truth. "No, James. In truth, I do actually kind of, sort of, like you a little. What I need you to do is give me the time to work things out. I need us to just be friends for now and for you to act normally so that I can think clearly with out worrying about you every five minutes."

"Oh." was all he said. He sat silently for a few minutes then "Okay, fine. Friends?" he held out a hand for me to shake. He still seemed a bit depressed. 'Oh, what the hell?' I asked myself. Then I stepped towards him, pushed his hand aside, and gave him a hug instead. I broke away from him after a couple of minutes and walked towards the door.

"Are you coming? Or are you just going to mope around in this dark dusty room all day?" I asked him, smiling.

He gave me a strange look that grew into an amused smile. "Yeah, I'm coming." He said, jumping off the table. "Where are we going though?" he asked as he walked past me.

"To hang out, like friends do."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. I have a feeling we could use some quality friend time to get to know each other."

"Really?"

"Friends hang out, it's what they do. If we're going to be friends I have to know more about you than you're to smart for your own good, have an ego the size of Europe, and that you're a decent chaser."

"Decent? I'm a wonderful chaser!"

"Did I mention you have an ego the size of North America?"

"You said Europe."

"I lied; it's the size of North America. Now, race me to the lake?" I asked him and took off running before he even had a chance to reply.

I spent the entire morning hanging out in the quidditch pitch bleachers with James Potter, something I thought I'd never say. Something for the longest time I hoped I'd never say.

Turns out he's not such a bad guy. We talked about everything from our favorite colors to our opinions on Voldemort and his Death Eaters. He and I actually have a lot in common. We like the same kind of music, types of foods, and we even have similar opinions on some of the teachers and classes. At one point James offered to help me out with my Advanced Transfiguration work.

"I noticed you were having some, er, trouble in class the other day with turning a rat into a goblet."

"Yeah, silly isn't it? It's review and I'm still having trouble with it. I was just lucky I didn't have to perform that for my O.W.L.s or I wouldn't have got as high a score as I did."

"Well, if you need any help figuring some of them out, remember, I'm head of the class."

"Yes, in both skill and mischief." I rolled my eyes. "I'll remember you said that next time I need help studying for a Transfiguration test."

"Uh-oh, what have I gotten myself into? I've seen you study for tests before, it's scary."

"I like to be prepared, so sue me."

"I would, but I don't have a lawyer on hand."

We eventually had to force ourselves to leave so that we could get some lunch before our first actual class of the day, DADA. Lunch was a lot less awkward with the two of us talking again, and everyone seemed to notice immediately that we were getting along extremely well. At first there were a lot of raised eyebrows and turned heads at our behavior, but then everyone settled down to their meals.

Defense was a particularly good class. Professor Emling was a practical teacher and had us work on a spell that caused your enemy to see double, making it easier for one to escape or attack, depending on the circumstances required by the particular duel. I worked with James in an attempt to keep the friendship thing on a role. Sirius worked with Becca, a team I thought was destined for the destruction of the class. I was proved wrong however, when Becca was the first to get the spell right, Sirius and myself following her closely behind. James managed it just as class was letting out. We all walked to dinner together taking up the majority of the hallway.

After dinner, I went up to bed early, the turkey I had eaten had made me sleepy, plus I wanted to write in my diary for a while. I rarely write in my diary, only when something memorable happens, like making friends with someone I swore to hate. While I was writing Rebby and Becca came up and flounced onto my bed.

"Hello miss sleepy head." Rebby said, smirking.

"Hello to you too." I replied, finishing off a line in my journal, closing it, and setting it on my nightstand.

"Soooo… I see your little plan worked out then?" Becca asked me.

"Yes, the little plan worked out." I rolled my eyes at her.

"Wait, what plan?" Rebby looked at us confused.

"Lily had a plan to get James to stop moping around like a wet sack of flour."

"Really? What did you do? Snog him to death and promise to marry him?"

"No, of course not!" I said making a face at the suggestion. "I talked to him during study hall and told him to stop acting like a moron. I told him we could be friends, but he would need to act normally for a while before I could consider being more than that."

"So, basically, you told him he has a chance?" Rebby asked me, a pensive look on her face.

"Yes."

"And does he? Have a chance I mean."

"Well, I suppose anything is possible."

"Well, then," Rebby hopped off the bed and dug around in her trunk for a couple of minutes. She came out with a pair of red and gold Gryffindor pom-poms from the year before. "Two-four-six-eight who does Lily want to date? JAMES! JAMES! JAAAAMESSS POTTERRRRR!!!" she finished with a little jump at the end and Becca hopped off the bed to join her in the cheer.

"I DO NOT WANT TO DATE JAMES POTTER! I'm just saying never say never!"

"You know, she's right, you should never say never or ever say always because never and forever are a thin rope to walk when forever can never come true with a few 'never's and never can never come true without a few 'forever's." Becca said all in one breath.

"Do you even know what you just said?" Rebby asked her.

"No, but it sure did sound good didn't it?" She smiled cheekily at us and I took the opportunity to throw a pillow at her face. Good thing is, being a chaser for the last three years has made my aim wonderful, and I hit her square in the face. This of course caused a pillow fight which resulted in all of the pillow being burst and feathers floating around the room like snow. "Now look what you've done, all the pillows are busted." I said.

"Yeah, yeah. this is for you I believe." Becca tossed a big armful of feathers at me. This caused a feather war. Eventually we calmed down just in time to hear a knock on the door. I yelled come in and the heads of our fellow room mates as well as the Marauders popped in the room.

"Dang, you girls really know how to party, huh?" Sirius said letting out a low whistle at the mess we had made.

"How did you guys get up the stairs?" I asked. They were charmed not to let any boys up them, so how those four managed it I was curious to find out.

"Secret of the trade, love." Sirius winked at me. "Well, we just wanted to know what all the screaming was about. Off we go." Sirius and the Marauders left, followed shortly by Reij, Rach, Win, and Mikki.

"So how's that going anyways?" I asked Becca.

"How's what going?" she replied, playing dumb.

"How are you and Sirius doing?"

"Oh, well, he hasn't cheated on me, he's treated me well, we have snogging sessions from heaven, and unless he's completely mental, I see no break up for the foreseeable future."

"Yes, but you've always been horrible at Divination haven't you?"

"Yes, but only because the teacher is an utter nutter. Hey, utter nutter, hah! That's funny!" Becca started laughing at her own joke.

"Anyways, that's good, but don't be surprised if he does, you know his track record with girls. The longest relationship he's ever had was two weeks, and that was because the girl refused to believe they were broken up. You're already going on three tomorrow I believe."

"Yesterday, actually. And if he breaks up with me, I'll beat his brains out. He better at least have the decency to say it to my face instead of just cheating on me and letting me find out like he did with that one girl, what was her name? Janet? Jaimie? Janice? Something like that." Becca waved her hand round in the air as if dismissing the girls name, then repaired her pillow and went to her trunk for her pajamas.

"Just, be careful not to fall too deep for him, okay?" I warned her.

"WELL, if you two are finished being all mushy wushy gushy, I've got an announcement to make." Rebby said. We both looked at her with dread. The last time she had made an announcement she had decided to try to hog tie the Giant Squid to get some recognition. It took us days to talk her out of it.

"Uh-oh." I said.

"Oh, boy." Becca said.

"So, I have a boyfriend!"

"You what?" Becca exclaimed.

"I have a boyfriend. His name is Max, he's a Ravenclaw seventh year. You know, tall dark and latino? Well he asked me to go to Hogsmeade with him the weekend before Halloween."

"Wait, when did this happen?" I asked.

"Today during study hall while you were courting James and Becca was busy keeping Sirius busy behind one of the shelves in the library." Rebby smiled proudly.

"Hey! I resent that comment!" Becca said in an angry voice, but she was blushing, so I knew Rebby had caught her.

"And I'm not 'courting' James Potter! We were just hanging out, like friends do. I decided we needed to get to know one another if we were going to be friends, maybe make it a little harder for me to hate him."

"Yeah, whatever, so Max is a Chaser on the Ravenclaw team, a prefect and he want's to take me to that new Restaurant that's opening up in Hogsmeade, the one we got flyers about in the post last week." Rebby continued to gush about how hot Max was and how cool Max was and how Max was going to take her o dinner until I fell asleep to the sound of her voice. What? I really was tired, and she kept saying the same thing, over and over again… Fine! I'm a bad friend! But the point is, I fell asleep.

My dreams that night started out with Rebby and Max dancing about a dark room together in a spot light. They were joined by Becca and Sirius, then Rach and Remus, a couple more couples, until the entire floor was lit up and covered by dancers. The music changed and the dancers parted like the red sea before Moses revealing a figure sitting on a chair directly across from me. I stood up and walked towards him, for the figure was definitely male. He stood up as well and walked towards me. He wore a black mask that covered the area around his eyes and nothing more. We danced around the room with the other people, and then they slowly faded away until it was only the two of us in the middle of the floor. I closed my eyes and laid my head on his chest and when I opened them, the scenery had changed.

I was lying on a soft leather couch, a pillow beneath my head. I heard a noise and stood up. I was in an old dusty basement, it was dark and I didn't have my wand. I yelled, but no one answered. I sat back down on the couch and was thrown backwards into the darkness. I was falling, falling, falling and then I landed in a large body of water. I swam and swam, trying to make it to the shore, but I couldn't swim anymore, I was drowning. I was drowning and there was nobody there to save me.

The next morning I sat up in my bed and screamed as the alarm clock went off.


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 13**

"AHHH!" my scream had caused Becca to wake up in a similar fashion. Her awareness to the world was shortly followed by that of Rebby, Mikki, Reij, and Rach. Win was still sound asleep; the lucky devil could apparently sleep through anything.

"What's going on? Why are you guys screaming?" asked Reij sleepily.

I didn't answer immediately, I was covered in cold sweat and out of breath, but I couldn't figure out why. It was that dream, a strange dream about dancing and… and drowning… I shook my head slightly and realized that the others were staring at me. All except for Win who was still asleep and Becca who had looked around and, noticing that nothing was wrong, collapsed back onto her pillow. I rolled my eyes at Becca and replied to Reij's question "It was nothing, just a dream…" I looked down at my hands and repeated "It was just a dream, just a bad dream…" this time I said it quietly, almost as if I was trying to convince myself it was true. It had just been so real… 'Get a hold of yourself Lily! Stop being bloody stupid! A dream is just a dream, nothing more!' I berated myself mentally. I looked around the room again; everyone else had lain back in their beds and gone back to sleep, apparently satisfied with my answer. I looked at my alarm clock; it was only 5:30 am.

"Stupid bloody dream…" I complained getting out of my bed and slipping on my robe. When I have bad dreams that wake me up, there's never any sense in my trying to get back to sleep. I grabbed the book I was currently reading and walked down the stairs to the commons. Picking out the couch by the fire, which was lit brightly, I sat down, stretching out on the couch long-ways and getting comfy. I cracked open my book and began to read. I was on the third part of Key to Rebecca by Ken Follet. It was taking me a particularly long time to finish it, mainly because I've been so busy in my off time working with the study group and doing homework and beating myself up for sending James into a depression.

I was so intent on my reading that I didn't even notice that there was another person in the room. I didn't notice him walk down the stairs from the guys dorms, cross the Commons, and come to a stop just behind my couch. I didn't even notice him, until, that is, he leaned over me, casting a long shadow over my book, and asked "What are you reading?" I looked up startled.

"Oh! I didn't see you there Remus! When did you come down?" I responded in surprise.

"Just a moment ago, I couldn't sleep." He replied coming around the side of the couch and taking a seat in the armchair angled diagonally next to mine so that its sitter faced the fire and the people on the couch and other arm chair.

"Neither could I. Why couldn't you sleep?"

"I always have trouble sleeping this close to the full moon…" he said glancing out of the common room window at the nearly full moon with haunted eyes. The poor guy. "What about you?" He asked turning back to me.

"Oh, I just had a bad dream…" my words drifted off slightly. Truthfully that dream had scared the crap out of me and I couldn't figure out why. Apparently my facial expression had shown my worry, because next Remus asked me "Would you like to talk about it?" with genuine sincerity in his voice.

"Um, well… it was kind of weird…" I told him what happened in the dream and he looked pensive for a couple of moments.

"That is a pretty weird dream… creepy too." He looked up at me questioningly "Do you have bad dreams like this often?" he asked.

"Um, well, not all of the time, no. I get them maybe once or twice a month at the most. Usually they aren't as odd as that though."

"How's that?"

"Well, usually it's me and my sister arguing as usual, then my parents come in and try to make us stop arguing, but they can't, Then there's this loud bang and the front door flies open and I turn to look at who threw the door open, but then everything starts to dissolve away and my family starts dissolving too, and then I fall into a large body of water, like in my dream last night, and I drown…" I shivered and hugged my knees to my chest. Stupid, creepy, annoying, pain in the butt, pointless, senseless, terrifyingly creepy dreams!

"Hmm…" Remus 'hm'-ed at my description of the dreams I usually have and scratched his chin thoughtfully, gazing into the fire.

"Do you think they mean anything?" I asked, trying to figure out what the 'hm' was about without having to actually ask him.

"Hmm…? Oh, maybe, it's quite possible they mean something, though maybe it's better not to know what that thing is just yet…" Remus replied. He seemed to be distracted now; I had the itching feeling that his distraction somehow involved my dream. Better to drop it now and catch him unawares later about it though.

"So, do you ever have bad dreams? I mean, about, you know," I made air quotations "about 'the change' and stuff."

"Yeah, sometimes… if there's one thing in this world that truly scares me it's not having control of myself, of hurting my friends, or watching them be hurt, and not being able to do a single thing to stop it. I have nightmares about that all the time."

Well, that was horribly insightful, but I suppose I was asking for it, wasn't I? All I really expected him to say was 'yes' or 'sometimes', but this works too. I guess sharing time is good.

"So," I made an effort to change the topic and pull us out of the awkward silence "Did you learn to become an animagus too?"

"No, they started that little 'project' on their own, I didn't even find out until I asked them why they kept randomly abandoning me to go to the library of all places." He rolled his eyes, probably for they same reason I was: James, Sirius, and Peter going to the library of their own free will and choice. "They finally came clean about knowing I was a werewolf and everything, and then they told me what they were trying to do for me. They were trying to become animagi so that when I transformed they could be with me, so I wouldn't be all alone. Since werewolves don't attack other animals usually and their bite doesn't have the same effect on animals as it does on humans, they, or at least James, figured that it was the best way to go about it."

"So, um, how did they do it?"

"A complicated series of spells and a fairly simple potion, also they had to do a lot of research in the middle of the night in the forbidden section of the library to find the information." He paused and looked at me suspiciously "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason, just curious is all…" I said with false indifference in my voice.

Apparently easily detected false indifference since the next thing Remus asked me was "Lily, would you like to become an animagi as well?"

"Oh, no, well, yes, I've always wanted too, but I couldn't, it's illegal and I'm horrible at transfiguration and I'd probably just turn into a goldfish or something silly and useless like that so, no I don't think I will, thanks. Besides, Becca, Rebby, and Mikki would get suspicious, and if I told them, they'd want to become one too, and they're better at transfiguration, but they'd be more trouble for you teaching us how and I just don't want to burden you with that so I think I'll just have to decline."

"Um… what?" Remus blinked at me blankly for a moment. "They can learn as well if they want, it's not that difficult to learn how, just difficult to master the spells and find the information, and since we already have the information, you and the others would just need to learn the spell."

"But, they'll want to know how you all know about it. They'll want to know why James, Sirius, and Peter became one. They'll want to know why you didn't." I said, finding a new flaw with the idea. I honestly can say I would love to become an animagus, however keeping a friend's secret is more important than any selfish desire of my own.

Remus rubbed his chin and leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. "Good point… I'll figure something out… Just let me think about it for a while, talk to the guys, try and find some sort of solution…"

"Um, if you don't mind my asking, why are you going through all of this trouble to try and help me become an animagus?"

"I thought it would be obvious, you're my friend, and friends help one another achieve their dreams. Plus, you're keeping my secret from them, and doing a great job of it too may I add, I feel like I owe you something for that."

"You don't owe me anything Remus, like you said, we're friends, and friends help keep one another's secrets secret too." I smiled kindly at Remus, and then got to my feet. "Well, I should go back up and get some clothes on, it's nearly 7 am, and people will be coming down here soon."

"I'll talk to you later then Lily." Remus smiled at me and stood as well. "I need to go make sure the lazy bums manage to get themselves out of bed." We said we'd see each other at breakfast and both headed to our separate dorms. When I came in the room, everyone was still asleep, so I flopped onto my bed as well and somehow managed to drift off into dream land for another couple of hours. Luckily, it was a Saturday, so I didn't have to be up early for class.

When I did finally wake back up I was greeted by the excited squeal of one extremely excited Becca. Then I was pounced on by the extremely excited Becca. Then I was thrown from my bed by the extremely excited Becca's bouncing.

"GUESS WHAT! GUESS WHAT, GUESS WHAT, GUESS WHAT!" she yelled, bouncing repeatedly on my bed.

"WHO?" yelled Rebby.

"No! Guess WHAT!"

"Um, what?" I humored her, standing up and rubbing my arse. There was a nice bruise developing on it from my oh-so-elegant landing on the floor.

"Well, after you got me all worried and thoughtful about my relationship with Sirius, I went and talked to him this morning. He said a load of bull crap, then I beat the truth out of him, and he said he has no intention at the moment of breaking up with me in the near future. Then he asked me to Hogsmeade next weekend. And then he gave me this" Becca held out her hand and let a long silver chain dangle from it. On the chain rested a tiny silver rosebud, a tiny silver key, and a tiny silver half of a heart. We all bent forward and examined the necklace.

"It's beautiful Becca!" Rebby said, touching it lightly and pulling it towards her to get a better look.

"Yes, it's gorgeous!" I cooed, smiling at her "I'm glad you talked to him and everything is good. I would still keep my eye out though, just in case. You know, watch for evil Fan Girls trying to seduce him in dark corners after class, stuff like that." I rolled my eyes, but only for the girls and Becca's sake. I still have serious doubts about Sirius's capability to hang on to one, and only one, girl friend for more than a month, and that's with leeway. His old record for longest girlfriend held was 3 weeks.

I let the girls wonder over the necklace and Sirius's apparent complete change of character and went to take my morning shower. The hot water was relaxing, therapeutic even, especially after the rough night I had. When I finally emerged from the shower it was to six angry, stinky girls glaring at me menacingly. Then I was stampeded by them in their effort to get to the shower first. "Honestly, I don't know why we only have one shower; it's completely unrealistic; one shower and seven girls. Ridiculous!" I muttered as I went to my bed and changed into some jeans, a long sleeve green t-shirt, and my converses.

I hopped on my bed and finished my essay for potions (What are the advantages, disadvantages, and common uses of the Draught of the Living Death). It was fairly easy, not because I'm a whiz at writing essays, like Becca, but because potions is my second best subject, charms being first. By the time I had finished it, the rest of the girls were out of the shower. Becca Rebby and I decided to go on down to breakfast, the others deciding to dry their hair first.

"Psh… dry hair? That's so overrated." Becca said, turning her head upside down and shaking it like a wet dog. She turned her self right side up and tussled her hair a bit more, then threw her still wet hair back into a ponytail and laughing.

"If you keep doing that, you're going to give people the impression you were a dog in your past life." Rebby said, rolling her eyes and pulling her hair into a messy ponytail as well.

"Maybe I was a dog in my past life… or a wolf… I've always had a thing for wolves…" Becca made her 'pondering pose' which involved her standing with one hand on her hip, the other hand with one finger resting on the very center of her chin and lips, and her eyes rolled upwards, as if seeking gods guidance.

"Well, if you were, you and Sirius belong together. I get the feeling he was a dog in his past life too." I said rolling my eyes. The others laughed, though they could not fully appreciate the joke, since I was mainly referring to Sirius's animagi form. Too bad, I thought it was a pretty good joke, too.

The three of us went down to the Great Hall for breakfast, barely catching the end of it as it was already 10:30 am. Te other girls came down just as the plates vanished and glared at the table angrily, as if the inanimate object had made the food disappear, not the poor house elves one floor below us.

"You know, the kitchens are on floor down. Why don't you go and see if the house elves will get you something, I'm sure they'd be glad too. You know how they simply love to serve." I rolled my eyes. I had tried a few years ago to understand why they liked being servants so much, but I never could. All I know is they are happy, enjoy their work, and treated well, as far as I know, at the castle by the teachers and other students, so I have no right to complain. "So, where are we off to?" I asked Rebby and Becca. The three of us hadn't had alone time in a while, our group of friends having grown from us and Mikki, to include the rest of the girls 6th year dorm, as well as the marauders. Plus the fact that two of us had boyfriends and one of us was trying to develop a friendship with a boy who wanted to be more than that. Potter is so… there are no words to describe… yeah…. I give up…

"Lake?" offered Becca.

"Room of Requirements?" proposed Rebby.

"Astronomy tower?" I suggested.

"Canada?" a voice offered behind us. I whipped around on the spot only to be greeted by the sight of –

"Remus! What are you doing here? I thought you'd be doing something Marauder related that I'd regret later. Or hanging out with Rachel."

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you for a moment." He said, then looked to the others. "Er, in private if you don't mind."

"Um, right, just a second." I turned to the Rebecca's, who were giving me strange looks, and said "I'll only be a minute, why don't you two figure out where you want to hang out. I'll be right back." I turned and dragged Remus down the hall a short ways, then asked him what he needed.

"Well, you see, I talked to the guys, and they agreed to teaching you how to become an animagi, but first you need to 1) decide whether or not you want to attempt having Becca and Rebby learn as well without telling them our secret and 2) help me come up with an excuse as to why I'm not going to be here for three days."

"Why aren't you going to be he- oh, right, the full moon is coming up again isn't it? Well, try a sick relative, it's an oldie, but a goody, plus it's always easy to make up fake distant relatives you rarely see but are extremely fond of. Then later you can kill them off for another full moon."

"You said that way too cheerfully."

"Yes, I know, it's the happy vibe Becca gives off continually, it's contagious." We both glanced at her; she was literally bouncing up and down on the spot talking animatedly with Rebby who seemed just as happy, minus the bouncing.

"Yeeaaahhh…" Remus said, looking at her speculatively.

"And about not telling them, honestly, I don't think they'd tell. They're really the only one's I'm worried about discovering, them and Rachel. The others have a different schedule most days and probably won't notice especially if it's three of us gone instead of just one. By myself I'm suspicious, in a group, we're just hanging out."

"Hmm… I don't know… I'll talk to the guys, but…"

"Okay, get back to me later. Just remember, Remus, it's your choice, not theirs." I said, walking off to join a still bouncing Becca and a now slightly bouncy Rebby.

"How much sugar did you guys eat?"

"None, but we're going to remedy that, we've decided to go on a picnic!" Becca said excitedly.

"A picnic where?"

"A picnic on the roof of the Astronomy Tower!" Rebby exclaimed.

"Oh boy, I can't decide if this is a really good idea or a really bad idea." I rolled my eyes and headed off with them in the direction of the Astronomy Tower. I looked back over my shoulder as I went at Remus. He was still standing there, looking at me strangely. He was looking at me the same way my father had the day I came home from my last date with Matthew and told my dad that love was way too complicated and that the word 'love' was way too overused and abused, and that men were stupid. He was looking at me with a mixture of bemusement and respect.

Why was he looking at me like that?


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 14**

'Something about that girl is… familiar… She reminds me of someone… but whom?' This is what I was thinking as I watched Lily Evans walk back over to her friends. 'Who does she remind me of?' just as I thought this Becca started bouncing around like a psychotic cricket. 'There's something wrong with her. She has way too much energy.' I shook my head and looked up in time to see the retreating backs of the three laughing girls. Just before they turned the corner, Lily looked over her shoulder at me, confusion written on her face. She really was very wise for her age. Almost like… Dumbledore! That's who it is! She reminds me of Dumbledore, or at least, what I imagine he was like when he was younger, too smart for his own good. A lot like somebody else I know as well…

I turned and walked back down the corridor. The guys were waiting for me in our usual spot under the willow tree by the lake. I wonder if they think I should tell Rebby and Becca. I mean, Lily said they'd probably find out anyways if we kept hanging out with them all the time. The probability of this happening would be increased if we were to teach them how to become animagi. 'It's your choice, not theirs.' Her words rang in my head. She had a point, too.

When I first came to Hogwarts it was like going to a completely different world. Not because I hadn't been around magic; both my parents are pureblood, so I grew up around the magic, in the wizarding world. It was different because, for the first time, I had friends who I could lean on and depend on to help me. For the first time I had someone outside of my family I could trust. This trust was deepened when they learned my secret and became animagi just to try and help me. What was most important about their finding out was not that they tried to help, but that they treated me the same way they always had. They didn't try to pretend I wasn't a werewolf, and they didn't take pains to avoid the topic. They just treated it like any little quirk someone might have, like Peter's drooling in his sleep, or Sirius's strange bark-like laughter, or James's inability to make his hair lay flat and behave. I felt like one of the guys, I felt normal, and that was something I'd never felt before: normalcy.

I turned on last corner and popped out behind a tapestry next to the giant doors that lead outside. That's the great thing about exploring the castle after hours; you're forced to learn all of the sneaky little secret passages and doors in order to escape detection by the teachers and the prefects, so when you want to get somewhere normally it takes half the time. I headed directly for the tree, which was situated about five feet from the edge of the lake. Sirius was sitting on a low branch of the tree that hung out over the lake, resting his back against the tree trunk. James was sitting on the ground beneath the tree messing around with the snitch he had bought at Diagon Ally this summer. Peter was no where to be seen.

"Where's Peter gotten too?" I asked flopping down next to James at the base of the tree and lying back on the soft grass, my arms under my head.

"Dunno," said Sirius, scratching his stomach and yawning, "but he sure is missing out on some quality napping here. Its perfect weather out for it, not too hot, not too cold, nice and clear so the warmth from the sun can counter act the cool wind." Sirius yawned again, folding his hands together on his stomach and closing his eyes.

"I think he said something about homework." James said, grabbing the snitch out of the air and releasing it.

"Well that can't be right. He finished all of his homework with me last night." I was sitting up part of the way now, leaning my weight on my elbows. "He's been acting odd recently…"

"How's that?" James asked, catching the snitch and pausing to look at me with curiosity before releasing it again.

"I don't know. He's just never around anymore. Always off finishing homework he's already done or talking to someone about a project he doesn't have."

"Maybe Peter got himself a girlfriend and he doesn't want us to know about it." Sirius said. We all considered this for a moment. Then we all three burst into laughter.

"P-peter? With a s-secret g-girlfriend? Good one, Pad!" James managed to choke out between laughing and gasping for air.

"Even better, Peter with a secret LOVER." Sirius sat up and laughed harder, gripping his side.

"How do you come up with these things?" James asked, his laughter increasing.

"Oh you know, they just pop right into my head. POP!" Sirius made a strange hand motion to go with the word 'pop' and his bark like laughter increased, as did James's now silent laughter. I'm pretty sure James's laughter was silent because he couldn't breath. My first clue was the fact that his face was bright red. My laughter had increased as well; the image of Sirius going 'pop' and making that hand motion playing over and over in my head.

"Like 'POP', eh, Sirius?" I mimicked him.

"Hahahahaaaaaaaa!" Sirius's laughter turned into a scream as he fell from his tree branch and landed in the shallows of the lake.

When I finally managed to get control of myself I said "You know Sirius, I think you've been hanging out with Becca too much, you're picking up her character traits."

"Her character traits? Like what?" Sirius asked, flopping down on the ground and taking off his shirt. He proceeded to wring it out and hang it over the tree branch he had been sitting on earlier.

"Like her inability to last one conversation without saying something really… weird." I said.

"—and the way she talks with her hands." James added.

"—and her pension for falling off of things when she laughs."

"Okay, OKAY! I get the idea! Enough already! Yeesh…"

"Speaking of, what did Lily say?" James asked his eyes lighting up t the mere mention of her name. God, if he's not in love with her then he must be under a spell or something. Not altogether impossible considering where we go to school.

"She said she'd prefer that we tell Rebby and Becca."

"But can they keep it secret? How will they react? I mean, they're not exactly the responsible, reliable, secretive kind of girls are they? Heck, they run around the school talking at the top of their lungs half the time about personal stuff. I should know, I've seen Lily beat them over the head for it before." James said, looking thoughtful.

"True, but your Lily said they would keep it secret. Apparently when it counts they're trustworthy with a secret. That's her only issue with it really. She thinks they'll find out and she has no intention of putting her friendship on the line by keeping something like this from them."

"Well, I guess if she thinks it'll be alright…" James started.

"I don't like it." Sirius said "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd love to tell them, it would make my life a lot easier, Becca's already pestering me ceaselessly about the nicknames and why we're always out really late at night, but I just don't know how they'll react. They might freak out and tell the whole school for all we know."

"They could…" I said, uncertain of what to do.

"Well, no matter what we think, this is your choice Remus, just make it a good one." James smiled encouragingly at me. 'That sounds really familiar…'

"Okay, well, if Lily thinks they can handle it, I think it will be okay to tell them. She might be biased as their friend, but her intuition is usually good on these kinds of things."

"How would you know this?" James asked, raising an eyebrow, a slightly jealous look on his face. He is way too easy to get riled up when it comes to Lily.

"I had her as a partner in potions all last year with Slughorn, remember? She would read the instructions and immediately know that they should be changed slightly this way or that to make the potion perfect; it was creepy sometimes… over heard a few of her conversations with Becca and Rebby that year too. Lily is apparently their in house clairvoyant."

"Clairvoyant?" Sirius asked.

"It means psychic, or mystic. Like a Seer, only her intuition is just really strong. That reminds me. James? Are you still having those weird dreams?"

"What dreams?"

"The reoccurring one's where you're drowning at the end."

"Oh, those dreams? Yeah, I still have them on occasion. They went away mostly this summer, but they came back again pretty strong when school started. They've been getting more and more frequent."

"Well, you might like to talk to Lily about them."

"Why is that?"

"Because she's getting them too, and I don't think it's a coincidence."

James's eyes widened in surprise while Sirius smirked at him and said "Nice Prongs, now you're invading her dreams too." Sirius began laughing while James glared at him and gave him a nice resounding smack on the back of the head.

"Not those dreams, stupid, the other ones."

"What other dreams?"

"The one's where I start out doing something normal like hanging out with you guys and end up in a strange room with a bunch of masked men before falling into a big lake or something and drowning."

"Oh… those recurring dreams…" Sirius adopted a thoughtful innocent look. "Wait, how are they both having the same dreams?"

"They aren't the same ones, they're different, but they follow much the same pattern. I get the feeling she was confiding in me, so you might want to ask her yourself what exactly happened. You know how touchy girls can get about this kind of thing." I said. Honestly, the number of times a girl has gotten mad at me because I told someone something they didn't make me swear a blood oath to keep secret… What? Stop giving me that look. I may be smart, but that doesn't mean girls make any more sense to me than they do to James and Sirius. Okay, well maybe more than them, but that's just because they're completely dense when it comes to a girls feelings.

James nodded his head at me solemnly. Those dreams freak him out as much as they do Lily, I've seen him experience them first hand; not fun. I have bad dreams too, but somehow, no matter how terrifying they are, I get the feeling that they're no where near as bad as the nightmares James and Lily are experiencing.

"What are you guys all serious about?"

"Huh? Someone say my name?" Sirius sat up and gave the four girls approaching us a questioning look.

"Not you, numbskull, the word 'serious' as in, not funny," Mikki rolled her eyes at Sirius, who had lain back on the soft grass again as soon as the words 'not you' had left her lips.

"We were just discussing dreams." I offered lightly, trying to lift the general mood. "What are you four up too?" I asked, walking up to Rach and giving her a peck on the cheek. Win and Reij made kiss-y faces behind my back, and I pretended to not notice.

"We're just out for a walk. We were looking for Lily, Becca and Rebby, but they're off somewhere getting into trouble no doubt." Rach rolled her eyes and walked over to the base of the tree with me and sat down.

"I saw them earlier; I think they were headed for the astronomy tower, something about a picnic and lots of sugar…" I shook my head.

"Sugar? Oh that's _just_ what Becca needs, let me tell you. Rebby too, she needs all the sugar she can get." Win commented flopping down between myself and James.

"Glad to know your sarcasm is still in tact there Winny, I was starting to think maybe you'd forgotten how to be sarcastic." Mikki rolled her eyes and climbed into the tree where Sirius had been earlier.

"I'm going to laugh when you fall in." Reij took a seat somewhere in the middle, just out of the splash range of the lake.

"I won't fall in." Mikki said "Hey, I get a nice view of Sirius's abs up here." She said smiling down appreciatively at Sirius's still exposed torso.

"Really? Let me see." Win climbed up into the tree branch as well and looked down at Sirius. "Yup, a very good view indeed. Would this be considered betraying a friend?"

"No, no, Sirius is eye candy. Those abs belong to all the girls in the world." Mikki paused. "Well, at least looking at them belongs to all the girl, the actual touching of the abs is reserved for Sirius's girlfriend, which right now is Becca. Hence the wisdom of the phrase 'look but don't touch', especially when Becca is the one who'll slap you silly if you _do_ touch."

"Ah, so true, so true." Win said leaning forward for a better look.

"Girls." I said, rolling my eyes.

"We resent that comment!"

"Whoa, where'd you come from?" Sirius asked as Rebby, Becca, and Lily appeared.

"Well, we were about to start our sugar filled picnic when we had a run in with a couple of your annoying slutty fan girls. They came up, glared at me, tried to stare me down, harassed me both mentally and physically and in the end got their butts handed to them on a silver platter." Becca said in a

"That last bit meaning…?" Sirius offered.

"That last bit meaning that a certain Amanda Dramin now has a broken nose and a black eye to go nicely with her chipped tooth."

"You did all that because she razzed you a bit?" I asked, becoming slightly afraid of her. What? She's scary and she has a horrible temper.

"No. I did all that because she slapped me when I called her a slut after she said a few unsavory things about me dating Sirius." Becca paused and looked thoughtful. "Actually, I only hit her twice, so I don't know how she chipped her tooth…"

"That's from last year when she insulted Marley after your genius boyfriend over there broke up with her." Rebby pointed out.

"Hey, not my fault, I just didn't like her that way anymore. Or at least I think that's what it was… maybe it was Marissa I just didn't like anymore…"

"Maybe it was both of them." James offered, rolling his eyes.

"Sirius, shut up before I hit you too." Becca said, glaring at him.

Sirius adopted a look of appropriate fear and said "Yes ma'am! In a bad mood today, honey?" Sirius sat up and reached for Becca's hand, dragging her down by his side.

"Don't call me honey, that's what my dad calls my mom… creepy…" Becca shivered.

"Alright, cupcake." Sirius smiled at her and squeezed her hand. That's odd, usually Sirius doesn't do the whole mushy nicknames and hand holding thing. Usually he snogs his girlfriends faces off until he tires of them or something and then he gets a new girlfriend to snog the face off of.

"Soooooo hoooootttttt…." Mikki said from the tree branch.

"Yessss… the hotness is overwhelming…" Win agreed "Now all we need is for those two to join him in shirtlessness."

"Hmmm… yes… and Rebby's new boyfriend as well. I hear Max is mighty fine when shirtless."

"Um, you two mind keeping the admiration to yourselves, we're having one of those rare mushy moments." Becca said rolling her eyes and smirking at the two girls sitting in the tree.

"Okay, but only if they take their shirts off, the beautifulness of the day shall not be complete unless they take their shirts off." Win attempted to compromise.

"Please, fulfill their wishes before someone gets hurt, and by someone I mean them at the hands of Becca. She's not exactly patient today." Lily flopped onto the ground next to Rach and myself and began fiddling with a few blades of grass. I looked over at James; he was practically twitching to say something, probably to Lily about her seeing him shirtless, but he restrained himself.

Mikki adopted a melodramatic pose "Please, kind sirs, remove your garments that we may live to see another day at the hands of one Anabell Elizabeth Rebecca Burns."

"Is that your full name?" Sirius asked.

"Yes." Becca looked extremely irked and began clenching her fists, her knuckles turning white. "I'd prefer it if you never repeated it again." She said through tightly gritted teeth.

"Oh dear! We've upset the great and powerful dragon known as Anabell Elizabeth Rebecca Burns! Save us kind and mighty knights!" Win joined in Mikki's princess in distress act.

"Um, when did Becca become a dragon?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in humor.

"Perhaps you should do as they say; I don't want anyone getting hurt now." Reij said innocently.

"Yes, and the three of them shirtless has nothing to do with it, I'm sure." Win said.

"Well, now that you mention it…" Reij shrugged her shoulders, a small devilish smile appearing on her face.

"I know! Let's all go swimming!" Rebby said "The Lake is still warm enough and it'll solve the whole shirtless guys thing as well."

"Hmm… not a bad idea." Sirius said. "It is a bit warm out here, and I am already wet." Sirius jumped up and climbed into the tree again. "'Scuse me ladies." He stepped around and over Win and Mikki, and then dove into the lake.

"Well, we might as well." James stripped off his shirt and took a running jump into the lake yelling 'cannon ball!' as he went. The ensuing splash was big enough to get the rest of us wet, so we all decided to join in. I peeled off my shirt and dove stepped into the water. I hadn't gotten four steps when Becca came running off the tree branch and flipped into the water in her blue tank top and jeans.

When she surfaced she stuck her tongue out at James and said "My splash was bigger than yours! Hah!"

"Hey Becca! Are you going to change into a bathing suit or what?" Lily yelled to Becca.

"Yeah, sure." She said climbing out of the lake.

"Hey Rebby! Change your clothes first." Lily said making Rebby stop mid way down the tree branch where she was also about to commence an aerial splashing assault.

"Oh, okay." She said jumping from the branch onto the ground and following Becca and Lily.

The girls disappeared behind some bushes for a short time and reappeared in bathing suits, then jumped into the water as well. We swam until it started getting dark then got out and dried off and headed to dinner.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 15**

Food! Food, food, food, food, food, food…. Sirius… food… Sirius… Such difficult decisions… I suppose I'll go with food… yum, macaroni…

I spooned some macaroni onto my plate, ignoring Sirius ideas of skipping dinner to go do 'something else' by which he meant snogging in an empty classroom, linen closet, etc. As much as I love him, food comes first. "Maybe later, right now I'm going to eat my macaroni." I smiled at him and began eating my macaroni with vigor. I love macaroni. I love muggles for inventing macaroni. I love Chinese people too for inventing noodles. I love whoever invented cheese, milk, butter, and salt and pepper.

"Enjoying that macaroni there Becca?" Lily gave me an amused smirk. I nodded my head and continued to eat the macaroni. Once my plate was clean, I poured myself some pumpkin juice, drank it, and then joined the conversation. I always eat first, talk later. It helps keep unseemly things like talking with my mouth full from happening.

"So, that was fun, we should go swimming again some time. Maybe next time we'll beat you at Sharks and Minnows." Lily said.

"Maybe next time Sirius and James won't use magic and cheat." Said Reij.

"Hey! You never said 'no magic'!" Sirius argued.

"But we did say you're not allowed to open your eyes under water." Win pointed out.

"And it's kind of a given that summoning people to you isn't allowed." I said laughing at Sirius's rebellious face. He has the cutest expressions, and he's always so animated. There's never a dull moment around him, even in classes I find boring, like Divination and Charms.

"So when's the first quidditch match?" Reij asked. She was genuinely interested, having been beaten out of the beater position recently vacated on the Gryffindor quidditch team by Will. Win had also tried out for that position, but was made a substitute beater when her brother turned out to be only slightly better than she at the position.

"First game's next Saturday. We're playing Slytherin." James answered. James is the team captain this year, he plays Chaser and well as substitute Seeker, hence the reason he carries that bloody snitch around with him all day long.

"Think we'll win this year?" Mikki asked.

"I sure hope so, I mean, the team is lot better. We've got Will and Sirius as Beaters, between them they've got better aim than all of the Slytherin team combined. We've got the Becca as Seeker, and I haven't a clue how, but she has the eyes of an eagle when it comes to spotting the snitch. Keeper this year is that fifth year Jill Black, who is a lot better than our former keeper."

"Why was he even on the team?" Lily inquired.

"He was friends with the captain last year. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is to let your friends on the team because they're your friends when there are other people more talented and more qualified for the position." Remus said. Remus isn't on the quidditch team, though why I'm not sure. He's practiced with us before and is a fair Chaser, not that it's my area of expertise, I'm a seeker and a beater, I have zero ability to catch anything bigger than, well, a snitch, and I have aim when throwing things. So I remain a lowly Seeker. What the hell am I saying? Everyone loves the Seeker! The Seeker is the bomb! There fore by association I am the bomb! Oh yeah! Now what? I'm awesome! Oh yeah!

I paused in the middle of my mental I'm-awesome-and-you-aren't dance to ask "Jill Black? She isn't related to you is she?" I turned to Sirius.

"I don't think so; most of my family is in Slytherine, the slimey bastards."

"Yeah, you're a little intense about that."

"Well, I have good reason to be, and don't act like you understand, because you don't."

"That would be because you won't tell me now wouldn't it?" Sirius looked over at me, about to speak, most likely with extreme anger. "Stop, don't say it. Just calm down, we'll talk about it later. This isn't the time or place to get into a row." I gave him my shut-up-or-else-you-idiot look and turned back to the conversation. "I think we'll definitely win this year, at least against the Slytherines. The cup is another matter entirely; I hear the Ravenclaw team is really good this year."

"They found a new Seeker who I hear is pretty good. They have a couple new Chasers as well." James responded acting like the tense moment had never happened. Lily was giving the two of us strange looks, as was Rebby, the others chose to do as James had and simply ignore it all together.

"I'm not worried about their new Chasers. You, Lily and Rebby are a smoothly functioning machine out there with your passes and dodges; your defense is getting better as well. That is, as far as I can tell from watching you during practice. The only true test of your defensive abilities will be the game next weekend." I said. Well, they did look impressive to me, but I'm not so sure they're actually as good as I made them out to be. All I know is they looked like they needed a confidence booster, so I gave them one. There's nothing like being told you're good to make you confident. Beware of side effects: includes inflated ego, big headedness, and the sudden notion that you are the king of the world.

"Now, what I want to know is how did the majority of the team end up being from our year?" Reij asked.

"Honestly none of the second or third years were any good at flying, the fourth years didn't have enough talent, Jill was the only fifth year who tried out, and the only seventh year who tried out was more fit for Keeper but refuses to admit that she might be bad at Beater, which was what she tried out for. It just happens to be that the only real talent this year in Gryffindor is in our year." Lily said.

I looked at Sirius, noticing that he was being oddly quiet. He seemed a bit moody. Well, that's no good, can't have him being moody now can we? Better go slap some sense into him. I looked at my watch and feigned shock. "Oh, cripes, look at the time. Sirius, will you walk me up to the tower? I need to get some homework done since we have practice all day tomorrow."

"Sure, whatever." Sirius grumbled, standing up and walking out of the Great Hall with me. Half way to the tower I shoved open the door to an empty classroom and dragged his arse inside by his collar, practically choking him in the process.

"Okay, what's the deal with you and your family? I don't get it. You don't like them because their all in Slytherine, okay. You don't like their ideals, okay. But their still family, you shouldn't, you can't, despise them simply because of that." I sat down on a dusty old table.

"I don't, their a lot worse than they seem. They whole lot of them. I thought my brother Regulus might turn out a bit better than the rest of the bunch has, but it seems he prefers our parent's approval over the moral high ground." Sirius sat down next to me on the table, putting his head in his hands.

"You keep saying that. That they're worse than they seem, but you never explain exactly why that is." I gave him an annoyed look.

"Would you just keep out of it? Please? It's not like I don't have enough problems without my girlfriend trying to pry her way into my private home life every five seconds." He stood up and began pacing. "You just, you don't understand, you can't understand what it's like."

"Of course I can't, and I never will be able to if you don't tell me exactly why you detest your family so much."

"You just, you can't, it's just…" he trailed off.

"Sirius," I jumped off the table and grabbed him by the shoulders, forcing him to square off with me. "Sirius, look at me." He slowly lifted his eyes to mine, very slowly, very reluctantly. "Tell me. I might not understand exactly what you're going through, but that doesn't mean I don't care, that I won't care. Now will please, just, tell me." I pleaded with him, both with my words and with my eyes, practically crying from the effort of not beating him into submission. What? I'm a violent person. I have to be with the amount of male older cousins I have.

Sirius seemed as if her was about to start ranting again about my not understanding, but then, all of a sudden, his demeanor changed. It was as if he had suddenly changed from a big, strong, and angry warrior to a weak, defenseless little child. A sigh escaped his lips and with it the defenses around the deep recesses of his heart as well. Wow, look at me, aren't I poetic?

Sirius walked back over to the table and sat down, looking tired and completely overcome by exhaustion, a side of him I had never seen. He looked up at me with haunted eyes and said "Fine."

"When I was little, my parents would spoil me rotten; my brother as well. I was so over protected and entrenched in this society where muggles were worth less than dirt, muggleborns only a step above that, I never even for a minute believed that the way I was thinking could be wrong. My parents always told me that anything less than a pureblood was unacceptable and barely tolerable; that they were good for our amusement but nothing else. For the longest time I just went along with them and believed everything they said.

"At my fathers 40th birthday party I met James. His parents and my parents weren't, aren't, and never will be friends, but they were purebloods and my parents invited them simply on that basis. James and I became fast friends. Before I met him, the only friends I'd ever had were my cousins Bellatrix and Narcissa and my brother, Regulus. Well, my parents didn't like that I was friends with James in particular, but they were too busy at the time to pay much attention. They just gave me a few galleons and sent me over to James's house, figuring that they were purebloods and couldn't be that bad.

"James was the first person to point out to me the fact that being a muggle or a muggleborn wasn't a bad thing. He made me see that being a pureblood wasn't all it was cracked up to be. The more I hung out with him, the more I began to love his family and hate mine. When I was 9 years old, my parents tried to tell me I couldn't play with him anymore. They said he was "influencing me in the wrong way" and would hide the floo powder so I couldn't go on my own. I finally got tired of it and defied them. I had James floo to my house first and bring some extra floo powder along for the trip back, but my father caught us. He sent James home and then he set into me.

"He told me I was good for nothing, that I was a stupid little boy, that James was bad because he didn't believe as they did that anything less than pureblood was nothing. He got so worked up that when I spoke back and tried to defend myself and James, he hit me. From then on it was like my father had opened a door and couldn't shut it. Anytime I displeased him and it wouldn't embarrass him, he would resolve it with his fists instead of just yelling at me or grounding me. As I got older I discovered all of their hiding places for the floo powder and anytime I got into a fight with my parents I would escape to James's house where his mother would heal me and let me stay the night. His house became a second home for me. After I was sorted into Gryffindor and became friends with Remus and Peter as well, my parents began referring to me as 'that boy' and 'it' as if I weren't even a person anymore. My parents would ignore me most of the time, only speaking to me to tell me how much of a disappointment I was. My cousins laughed at me and treated me much the same way my parents did. Regulus, for his part, tried to treat me normally until my father started giving him the looks he gave me. Then he abandoned me, saying that I was a fool for angering father and that I deserved what I got.

"For the longest time I actually believed that too. I believed that I was the scum of the earth and that I deserved the beatings I got from my father. Eventually James and Remus and Peter, and James's parents as well, managed to convince me it wasn't my fault. Part of me still feels that way though when ever I go home, if you could call it home.

That's why I hate them all so much. They are completely in love with those stupid ideals of Voldemort's, they beat me down, mentally, and physically, and I'm so sick of it, of not being able to fight back, that I just, I feel like giving up, like giving in all the time. Hogwarts is my savior usually, but recently Narcissa, Bellatrix, and their lot, even Regulus, have taken a point of seeking me out just to torture me. I'm just, I'm so sick of it, so tired, that half the time I feel like just, giving up and going along with them, just to make them shut the hell up." Sirius's voice tapered off, his shoulders slumping lower, his head now lay in his hands. I got the feeling that he wanted to just lay down and fall asleep and never wake up again. That's what I would want to do if I were him. I would want to fall asleep and live forever in some wonderful, beautiful dreamland where nothing and no one could ever hurt me. He wanted everything to just be okay for once.

'How do you know that?' you ask. I know how he feels, if not why he feels it. My parents aren't evil, and they don't beat me, but I know how it feels to be looked at like you're a problem by people who you used to think cared about you. My father was a muggleborn and most of his family was really religious. Their religion said that anyone who had anything to do with magic must be evil or a devil worshipper or what ever. When I was younger they treated me normally in the hope that I wouldn't turn out like my parents had. When I got my letter from Hogwarts, they shunned me just as much as they did my father and mother. It wouldn't be nearly so bad as it is if we didn't live on a farm in the middle of a valley owned mainly by my extended family. I'm lucky though. My cousins, the one's that know, don't really care. They think its cool; they envy me because they think school is a breeze for me, but they don't put as much stock into religion as their parents do. The one's who don't know, well, they just think their parents are weird.

Sirius was still hunched over looking for all the world like a collapsed building or a lost little boy. I did the only thing I could think of at that moment. I gently got down from the table and walked over to stand directly in front of him. With my left hand on his shoulder and my right hand on the back of his neck, I lifted his head, forcing him to look at me, and the motion was met with little resistance. It was killing me to see him like this, like a broken down, pathetic version of the real him, but I had to stick by him. If there was one thing he needed it was someone to be able to trust beyond his small group of friends. When his eyes met mine I stared into them for a few moments, letting myself get lost in the cool, grey pools of mist. In his eyes I saw all the pain and suffering he had gone through, and was still going through. I saw the torment and the mental anguish he still struggles with on a daily basis. I saw a little piece of myself in him.

"Sirius," I said, trying to get him to truly focus on me. The clouded look left his face and his eyes seemed to actually look at me instead of through me. "Sirius, you're not the problem, they are. You are a wonderful person, a person any sensible parent would be proud of and if they can't see that then they are worse than you have ever tried to tell me they are. Sirius, what they don't like about you doesn't matter. I was wrong. They may be related to you, but they aren't you're family if they treat you that way. You do need to realize though, that there are other people who do care for you like a family. James, Remus, Peter, James's parents, they are your family." I shifted my right hand from his neck to his back and pulled him into a big hug. I'm not too good at the whole 'intimacy with out being intimate' thing, but I am good at giving hugs. I hugged him until he hugged me back. When he hugged me back I held on tighter, and he clung to me like I was his lifeline.

After what seemed like forever he spoke. "You too, you're family too." He whispered. I pulled away from him, just far enough to see his face. I expected to see some sort of humor on his face, a hint of laughter, as there always was when he said something that sounded so sweet and sincere, but it wasn't there. No smirk, no laughter, not even the hint of mischief. All that was evident on his face was a soft lingering look in his eyes, a slight tilt to his mouth that hinted to a smile. He leaned forward, his chin tilted up, and stopped just short of my lips and waited. I leaned forward as well, my mouth connecting with his, and let him kiss me. It wasn't the kind of kiss we normally shared, a hurried, passionate, kiss of lust, it was something more, something softer, gentler, and yet just as full of passion as the others had been.

I don't know what you may call it. Hell, I don't even know what I call it. Some people, however, refer to it as love.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 16**

The next week passed smoothly. Sirius seemed a lot happier, if that's possible. It was almost as if he had been trying to run with a big weight on his back and once he told me about his family the weight fell away and he could sprint. My mood was improved as well, not that anyone could tell. People, even my friends, tend to mistake my energy level and my hyper-ness for my general mood.

We had quidditch practice every day after class for 4 hours as well, thank you James. We were so busy that Lily even canceled the study sessions. The professors took the opportunity to go easy on us and give us a lighter workload since apparently it's just as time consuming and annoying to grade papers as it is to write them. Lily and James's truce continued, for the most part at least. She did have to smack him a few hundred times to get him to stop going on a power trip during practice. Yeesh, you give a guy a Captains badge and it goes right to his head.

The Thursday before the match I was sitting next to Sirius at the Gryffindor table eating my breakfast. He got up to go talk to a friend in Ravenclaw with James and Remus, Peter was mysteriously absent again. I just know that boy is up to something, but I can't figure out what it is. I was munching on some bacon, pondering life, love, the number 42, and how they invented Jell-O when all of a sudden I feel a presence behind me. The hairs stood up on my arms and the back of my neck and before I could turn to look and see who it was, my head was jerked backwards by my ponytail leaving me lying on my back staring up at the face of one Lexi Edlyn.

I rolled over and stood up, glaring at Lexi the entire time. "Was there a reason for that? Or did you just want to rip my head off?"

"Oh, just came over to see how Sirius's favorite plaything is doing. Hope he's been behaving himself."

"Like it's any of your business whether he has or hasn't."

"It is actually since his parents and my parents decided this summer that he and I should get married." Lexi gave me a satisfied smile. I paused for a moment, somewhat stunned, and Lexi continued "Oh yes, that's right. Your wonderful boyfriend is engaged and he didn't even tell you. How nice." her smile grew, becoming quite sinister looking.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Sirius can't be engaged, he's much too young, and besides, even if he is, he hasn't told me for a reason."

"And what reason, little girl do you think that could possibly be?" she sneered at me now.

"First, he probably doesn't even agree with the marriage, his family is the scum of the earth you know. Secondly, I'm not little." she was really beginning to piss me off. First she has the guffaw to drag me off the bench by my pony tail, then she speaks lies a bout Sirius, and now she insults me? Of course, what else could I expect from a Slytherine like her. "Now, leave me alone. Go running back to your slimey little friends, if you can call them that, and leave me be."

"Or you'll what?" Lexi sneered even more and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Now, I'm normally not a very violent person. Okay, well, that's a lie, but I'm normally able to keep control of my temper. It seems, however, that she knows exactly which buttons to push, and when to push them, to get me to the boiling point. Standing at 5'4" and probably nothing more than 110 lbs I knew I could easily take her, especially since she probably hadn't worked a day in her life and had no real muscle to speak of. She threw her black shoulder length hair over her shoulder with one hand and put the other on her hip. Glaring at me with her black eyes she said "I didn't think you'd do anything, you're too chicken."

Or not.

I dropped down and span on one leg, sweeping the other around and catching her around her ankles all in one fluid movement and causing Miss Alexandra Edlyn to fall flat on her ass. Thank you Lily; thank you study sessions; thank you guy who invented the move to begin with, I owe you all one. Thanks to those people I now got the great joy of laughing triumphantly at Lexi who floundered around on the floor for a few minutes then stood up and flattened her skirt. "What were you saying about chickens?" I asked her, adopting an innocent look.

She squinted her eyes, pursed her lips, and shot daggers at me with her eyes. Then she made a noise like "humph!" and stormed away, the small crowd that had gathered parting before her like the Red Sea to Moses. Well, sort of.

Sirius came over from the other side of the room and looked from the crowd of people, to Lexi's retreating back, to my suspicious apprehension directed in his direction, then back at the spot where Lexi had been again. "Er… everything alright Bec?"

"Yeah, sure, everything's fine. Lexi was just starting something she couldn't finish is all."

"Are you sure?" he asked, slight concern showing in his voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine, she's got a large bruise on her ass, and your honor is defended. Now can we get to class already?" I had gathered my books while I spoke and was now headed in the direction of the doors to the Great Hall. Rebby and Lily, who had been on the other side of the table during the fight, if you can call it that, had packed up as well and followed me out of the hall.

"Maybe she really was lying?" Rebby offered.

"Or maybe she was telling me the truth and Sirius is a doddering blockhead with an inability to tell anyone anything."

"Or maybe you're jumping to conclusions and you need to talk to Sirius about this first." Lily said, grabbing my shoulder and forcing me to stop. "He's a git, I'll be the first one to say it and the last to take it back, but even he deserves an even chance."

"Fine, I'll talk to him." I said, continuing to class.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, all I really remember is drawing a lot of nasty things in my sketch book, getting points taken from Gryffindor in Charms when I refused to even attempt the charm and instead sat and sketched some more, and Sirius giving me really hurt looks every time I sat with Lily or Rebby instead of him in class. I completely skipped lunch, went to the kitchens to get some dinner, and when I showed up to quidditch practice I was barely in time, providing Sirius little time to even give me a strange look before pushing off on my broom and taking off after the snitch.

What can I say? When I get in a mood, I get in a mood. The only good news is, the Seeker position doesn't require me handling anything other than a broom and a snitch, meaning I didn't have a chance to kill anyone. By the end of practice most of my steam had blown off, but not all of it. I walked up to Sirius as he landed his broom, snatched away his Beater's bat, grabbed the quaffle, remounted my broom and took off again just in time to hear Lily say "Don't worry, she just needs to let off some steam. She'll be fine later. Why don't you guys just go on up to the Tower, Rebby and I will wait here for her."

After a good half hour of beating the crap out of the quaffle by tossing it into the air and smacking it as hard as possible in the other direction, then flying to wherever it was headed and hitting it back in the direction it came from, almost like a one sided tennis match, I finally landed by the girls dressing rooms. I was tired, sweaty, and completely worn out emotionally. My mood still wasn't good, but I had at least calmed down from the rather large temper I had worked myself into all day. Now it was time for a nice long shower, some food, and beautiful, wonderful, majestic sleep.

However, this plan of action was over before it even really began. I got as far as inside the dressing room before I realized that Lily and Rebby were waiting in ambush. They gave me curious, worried, and agitated looks and opened their mouths to speak, but I cut them off. "Don't start now; I'm going to take a shower. Showers equal relaxation; relaxation equals calm; calm equals me not killing someone, like you" I poked Rebby "or you" I poked Lily "or Sirius." I kept walking and the girls gave me apprehensive looks, but followed in my wake just the same.

After my shower, I came out fully dressed in nice, comfy sweatpants and a t-shirt only to be greeted by their worried looks again. Great. "Not now." I said, and continued on my way to the kitchens in the castle to grab a sandwich to go. As I exited the kitchen, sandwich in hand, the two stood silently giving me the exact same look as before. Now it was getting annoying. Grrrr… "WHAT? What is it? You could try NOT staring at me, couldn't you?"

"No, because then you wouldn't let us talk, or listen to us even if you did let us talk." Rebby stated.

"Hrmph…"

"You're stubborn; we know it, now get used to it." Lily said blatantly.

"Whatever." I said quite, well, stubbornly.

"Now, why haven't you talked to him yet?" Rebby asked.

"I just, I, oh, I don't… I don't know… I just… I don't want to talk to him, to ask him about it, and for it to be true."

"Why?"

"I, well... I guess, it scares me, the thought of him being taken away by someone else; the thought that he may have been just using me as a toy from the beginning."

"You're really smitten with this one aren't you?" Lily asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Um… smitten?" I raised an eyebrow, as if to say 'where'd that word come from?' "Yeah… I guess so… I just… I don't know…" I sighed. Why is life always so hard as a teenager? Why is life always so… weird? I mean, I finally get a boyfriend I actually care about and what happens? I find out he's engaged.

"Hummm…." Lily said.

"Would you like to elaborate on that thought?" Rebby asked her with a small smile.

"No not really. I'd like to keep it to myself for a bit, thanks." She replied. Rebby proceeded to attempt to force her to tell her what she was thinking by poking her ceaselessly. I bowed my head and walked forward, in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower. The two realized I wasn't there anymore and followed.

We walked in silence all the way to the Gryffindor Tower, and just before we reached the Portrait hole Lily stopped me and said "You know, just because he imight/i be engaged, doesn't mean he iwants/i to be engaged. Especially at so young an age, and being Sirius, the womanizing pervert we all know and love. Just, keep that in mind when you talk to him, okay?"

"Okay." I said quietly.

"Rumple Stillskin." Rebby said aloud, causing me to turn and look at her strangely, but my question was answered before I even asked it as the portrait of the Fat Lady swung open on its hinges and the three of us climbed through and into the Gryffindor Commons.

The first thing I saw upon entering the commons was Sirius chasing James around the commons. Remus was sitting in a chair with his feet up on the table reading the Daily Prophet yelling off handed comments about how they were going to destroy the commons and for Sirius not to kill James. Peter was sitting across from Remus his eyes jumping nervously from James and Sirius running about and Remus sitting calmly reading the paper and sipping a cup of tea.

"Give it back, James!"

"Nope! I'm going to post this on the bulletin board for everyone to see!"

"GIVE IT THE BLOODY HELL BACK!"

"Or maybe I'll just give it to—" but who James was going to give it to, or in fact what 'it' was, we'd never know, since Lily chose that moment to react.

"What the bloody hell is going on here?" Lily yelled angrily, her face slowly beginning to turn red.

James stopped on the spot. "Hello Lily!" he said, smiling brightly. Then he was plowed over by Sirius who couldn't slow down fast enough. The two wrestled about on the floor for a few minutes until Sirius managed to pin James long enough to rip a small item from James's hand and then rolled off him and shoved the item into his jeans pocket.

Lily, whose face was now a nice shade of magenta, glared at the two of them. "Would you two grow up for once? You act like 6 year olds chasing each other around the commons and wrestling on the floor." She turned to where Remus and Peter were sitting. "And you, Remus, you do realize that we're in charge of making sure stuff like this doesn't happen in the commons, right? It's our job as Prefects to keep order around here!"

Peter let out a scared squeak and Remus raised an eyebrow and replied. "Yes Lily, I know that, why do you think I have my wand out? I've been repairing everything they break the minute it's been broken. Plus I've been prepared to stun them if need be, however I felt a certain amount of lee-way was necessary considering they've been behaving themselves recently." Remus gestured absently with his wand and took another sip of tea. "Besides, they were just messing around. They are teenage boys after all, it's what they do."

"And they can't be more like you because?"

"Because I was forced to mature a little faster than they were, you know." Remus gave Lily an oddly significant look over the top of the paper. That's odd. What was that look for? There's definitely something going on there...

I cleared my throat loudly "Sirius?" He looked over at me and cocked an eyebrow in curiosity. I jerked my head towards the door to the commons. It was time to find out what was truth and what was fiction.

He followed me out of the commons, through the hall and into an empty classroom. I seemed to be spending a lot of time in empty classrooms recently. I closed the door and sat across from Sirius at a dusty old desk. "What's up?" he asked. "Are you going to tell me why you're mad at me now? I mean, did I do something wrong, or say something or what?"

"You didn't do or say anything wrong, Sirius, I've just been thinking about something I heard recently…"

"From Lexi Edlyn?" he asked.

"Yes, actually."

"I thought this might have something to do with that, erm, encounter." Sirius said, he leaned forward and reached out for my hand, which I allowed him to hold in his own. "What did she say?" he asked.

"Well, mainly the usual gossip, which didn't bother me. You know, that I was just a, I believe her term was 'plaything', and that you don't really care about me and that I'd be tossed aside soon. All of that is a load of crap and I know it. What she said that really bothered me was a bit more, um, serious, if you'll pardon the unintentional pun."

"Really? What did she come up with?"

"Well, that's just the thing, I'm not sure she made up what she said. That's why I've been so, well, worried I suppose." I took a moment to gather myself, to prepare what exactly I was going to say. "Sirius, she said that the two of you were engaged." I looked up at Sirius to gage his reaction.

Sirius's face adopted an expression of mild surprise followed by that of extreme annoyance and… something else… "Well, she sure did take her time using that against me." Sirius said.

"So it's true then, you're engaged to her?" I asked, pulling my hand away from his. I just knew this wasn't going to be pretty.

"Yes, but it wasn't something I wanted, my parents arranged it with her parents. They said something about 'saving the family name' by 'setting me up with a nice pureblooded girl' or some crap like that. We're _supposed_ to get married the summer after our seventh year." He said, rolling his eyes. "My parents are so stupid. Don't they know people don't arrange marriages anymore? Merlin, they're idiots. I planned on breaking off the engagement and moving out this. I'll be 17 then, of age, so they won't be able to drag me back home in order to 'preserve the family name' or whatever."

"Really? Why not do it now then?"

"Because I have to go back in order to get my stuff and get some money out of my vault at Gringots. If I were to break it off now, they'd burn all of my stuff or give it to Regulus and transfer all of my money into their account and close out mine."

"Can they do that?"

"Well, technically it is their money, and they have control of the account until I turn 17. You see, they set up an account for Regulus and I respectively that get a small percentage of the money in their vault transferred into it once a month. That way they don't have to worry about the little things, like actually caring when we go to Diagon Alley or out to do something with a friend. That way Regulus and I are taken care of financially without their having to actually get involved in our lives." Sirius rolled his eyes again and brushed his hair back with his hand.

I took this in slowly. Sirius is engaged. Sirius doesn't want to be engaged. Sirius's parents arranged the engagement to save their own social standing. Sirius has a bank account controlled by his parents. Whoa, hold up. "Wait, exactly how much a month do you get in your vault?

"We get around 5 each out of our parents vault a year, which last year added up to 50,000 galleons. This year it will be slightly higher, my father's business ventures are doing well apparently."

Add to the former list of things to take in 'Sirius is filthy stinking rich.' "Damn. That's a lot of money." Wait, side tracked. "So, let me get this straight. You're engaged to a girl you don't want to marry because your parents set you up with her and you can't break it off because you'll be financially bankrupt and they'll get rid of all your stuff?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't find it appropriate to tell me this because…?" I gave him an expectant look but he just shrugged it off. Honestly the guy is impossible to get to open up. Sometimes I wish he was more like James is with Lily, completely open. Of course then I would have had him arrested for stalking, something I recommend to Lily once or twice a year, but she dismisses out of the kindness of her heart. Yeah right, she totally has the hots for him. Of course, they do seem to be getting along now. She says their friends now, but I wonder how long that will last before James goes all love struck on her again. Not long, I'm sure, maybe until Christmas if he's lucky. Of course, by then it may not matter, Lily might have broken down by then and given in to what all of her friends can see; that she and James belong together. Rebby and are working on a plan to get the two of them together, Mikki and Win are helping us, and Reij and Rach might will probably get pulled into it at some point and Remus, Sirius and Peter are going to need to be convinced to help as well. That should be easy though, they want James and Lily to date as much as we do, if only to get James to shut the hell up about her every now and then. Wait. Sirius; he's saying something to me right now and I'm not paying attention.

"Becca? Hello?" He waved his hand around in front of my face a couple of times. "Are you in there?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I was just thinking about something."

"Well, as I was saying, I didn't tell you because I didn't think it would be relevant. I mean, it's not like I love her or I'm even going to marry her. The engagement is just a sort of formality to keep me in my parents good graces, if that's at all possible, until I can get what belongs to me and move out."

"Do you think she loves you?" I asked.

"I doubt it. Probably she's planning on having me 'accidentally' killed after the wedding some time. You know, stay married just long enough to have a claim on some of the family money. Apparently her family is in a bit of disrepair at the moment. She comes from old money, but her grandfather made some bad investments. My parents feel that marry their worthless son off to a girl from a good name will raise the family name at least."

"Ah. Well, that's interesting. Your family, your life, is like something out of a mystery novel. You know, like, you're the dead victim, now we have to find out which of the many people who hate you actually killed you." I rolled my eyes and continued dramatically "Was it the gold digging wife, the proud and embarrassed parents, the brother wishing to gain more inheritance, or one of the many scorned lovers? Perhaps I should hang on to you, you're a great source of information and plot twists if I were ever to find myself wanting to write a book."

Sirius chuckled "Perhaps, but I'd like to think you'd hang onto me anyways, for a reason more along the lines of love."

"Perhaps." I replied. I'm not ready to admit to being in love with anyone. Saying you're in love makes it real and making it real makes it harder to get over if and when you get hurt. What? I don't have a fear of commitment, I'm just cautious is all. I mean, we're just kids, how are we supposed to know what's love and what's infatuation? I gave Sirius a teasing smile and leaned in for a kiss. He leaned towards me as well and, just as we were about to touch, I pulled away, and jumped from my seat. Giving him a wink I walked to the door and opened it. He looked at me confused and amused at my actions. "Are you coming?" I asked and, without waiting for his eager response of 'yes', turned and skipped out the door and ran down the hall, Sirius hot on my heels.

I may be overcautious in the way of love, but flirting I have no qualms in doing often. Especially when I really like the guy I'm flirting with. In all honesty, I flirt with a lot of guys accidentally. The way I was brought up, teasing boys and wrestling with them, it was just the way we played, my cousins and I. Apparently teasing and wrestling with a guy is flirting when you're not related to them. Good thing someone told me that in first year after I made a fool of myself wrestling and messing around with Sirius, James and Remus. Nothing like getting the memo after the fact now is there?

Flirting is one thing, however, and love is another. I can admit I love Sirius now in a sort of platonic friendly kind of way, but whether I love him more as more than that, I won't, I can't admit to anyone, not even myself.


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 17**

"What is it about a quidditch match that makes people so nervous? I mean, honestly, it's the same as a scrimmage during practice only with more people watching, yet somehow it makes everyone really nervous to play in a real game."

"Yeah, sure, you say that Lily, and yet you're playing around with your food, tapping your foot ceaselessly, and you keep scratching your arm." Remus pointed out.

I stuck my tongue out at him and fiddled with my food some more, scooting my eggs from one side of my plate to the other, then mixing them with my bacon and then trying to extract them from the bacon. I realized what I was doing and threw my fork down in frustration. "Alright, fine, so I'm nervous too, I guess nobody's perfect." I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed.

"You should eat, we're in for a long game, we'll need our strength." Becca said.

"Yeah, easy for you to say, you're _always_ hungry."

"What? I prefer snacking continuously to eating three big meals, what's wrong with that?"

"It's not healthy."

"Yeah? Well at least I'm actually eating, you're too busy playing with your food and Rebby looks like she's going to throw up."

"It's called being nervous." Rebby said quietly.

"I'm nervous too, I just channel my fears and nerves into something more useful."

"And where did you learn to do this?" I asked her.

"I told you, I took some martial arts lesson's this summer, and I also joined this yoga group. I didn't stick with either very long, had to come to school and all, but I did stay long enough to learn how to center myself and focus my emotions."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "How very Zen of you" I rolled my eyes and looked at my watch. "It's time to get down to the field."

James, Rebby, Becca, Sirius, Makenzie, Will, Rach, Win, Remus, and I all stood up and headed down to the quidditch pitch. When we reached the stand Remus wished us luck and went to sit in the stands and read while he waited for the game to begin. The rest of us went down to the locker rooms to get suited up for the match.

By the time everyone was dressed we could hear the cheering and yelling of what was probably the entire student body out in the stands, waiting restlessly for the match to begin. James gestured for us all to gather together and began to make his first pre-game speech.

"I'm not very good at the whole inspirational speech making thing, so I'm going to make this short, sweet, and to the point. We're good; I know we're good, they know we're good. I know we can do this, that we can beat them. More importantly, you all know we can beat them as well. Now let's go out there, be confident, kick some butt and walk away with a victory for Gryffindor!"

"Yeah!" everyone yelled in response. Yeah right. Not good at making inspirational speeches my foot.

"Remember, be confident, we can do this, but don't underestimate them." James gave us all a confident look then turned and led the way out to the pitch. We lined up in order of our positions: the Captain first, next the other two Chasers, then the beaters, then the Keeper and the Seeker. After them came our back up players. We could hear the announcer from inside the dressing rooms. First he called the Slytherine team out, naming each of them in turn and their position. "Alright everyone, mount up!" James called. We all climbed onto our brooms and waited for our team to be called as well while the announcer gave some statistics and back ground information of the Slytherine team players.

"Now for the Gryffindor Team!" The announcer yelled, and all nine of us took off onto the pitch, circling it once while the announcer, whose voice, now no longer muffled by the walls of the dressing room, sounded awfully familiar. "We have James Potter, the team Captain and Chaser, Lily Evans and Rebecca "Rebby" Miller, also Chasers; the Beaters, Sirius Black and William "Will" Windstorm; the Keeper, Makenzie "M n' M" Meissner; the Seeker, Rebecca "Becca" Burns, and the substitute players, Windara "Win" Windstorm and Rachel "Rach" Phillips. The new faces on this team are Makenzie, Will, and Win, the old ones, you know of course from their winning season last year." I glanced over at the teacher's box where the announcer was and realized why the voice was so familiar and why the announcer knew all of our nicknames; it was Remus. That sneaky little fuzz ball had gone and signed up for the announcer position and hadn't told me, or anyone else by the surprised looks James and Sirius gave him when we came to a stop in the center of the field. Remus continued to give statistics on our team as we waited for the referee, Madame Twiggins, to fly up to us to review the rules. After reminding us to play a clean game, glaring at the Slytherines as she said it, she flew back down to the ground and released the bludgers and the snitch, then throwing the quaffle up in the air and blowing her whistle simultaneously, she started the game.

"Here we go, ladies and gentlemen, oh, and the Slytherines too—"

"Lupin, stick to the game!"

"Right Professor McGonagall, sorry about that" Remus apologized "Lily comes up with the quaffle for Gryffindor, but Sanders steals it, that's got to be a foul" Remus paused then said "I'm sorry professor, it just slipped. Anyways, Slytherine has the quaffle, they're taking it down the field, Sanders passes to Wrigley, Wrigley sends it back to Sanders, she shoots, but she's blocked by Meissner! Some applause people! That's M n' M Meissner's first save of her career! What, Professor? Well I just thought she deserved a little appreciation, that's all… well I know it's not really relevant to the game Professor… but Professor… fine Professor, I'll 'stick to the game'… yes Professor… well I would but you keep talking to me… right, sorry about the tone Professor, it'll never happen again…" while Remus argued with Professor McGonagall over how to announce the game, I was busy looking for the snitch while Lily, Rebby, and James were scoring twenty points for Gryffindor in quick succession and Sirius and Will were playing ping pong with a bludger before sending it at a Slytherine Chaser.

I looked around the pitch again. No snitch over there… no snitch over there… oh, hey, look, a shiny gold thing that looks like a snitch… too bad it's really a gold watch… oh look! Now i_that's_/i a gold blur that belongs to a snitch! I took off in the direction of the middle of Gryffindor stands where the snitch was doing a figure 8 over the heads of a few students.

"… Professor, I just told you I won't do it again, I— Hey! It looks like Becca's seen the snitch!" I heard Remus shout to the crowd.

I made a bee line for the snitch, not even glancing over when the Slytherine Seeker joined me in the chase. I was ahead of him by a good five feet and gaining. When I was only ten feet from the snitch, it moved, shrieking straight up into the sky. I changed direction quickly, nearly hitting Peter, who the snitch had been circling apparently, in the head with the tail of my broom in the process.

The Slytherine seeker didn't pull up fast enough, resulting in his crashing head long into the Gryffindor stands right on top of Peter, Max, and a few of Max's friends. This cause the formation of an angry mob of Gryffindor fans who proceeded to chase the Seeker down, and do who knows what with him. I'm not sure how I felt about it. I mean, there was no more competition, good for my prospects of catching the snitch, bad for the level excitement in chasing down the damn thing. Also, the guy had probably gotten beaten the crap up, good because he was a snotty ingrate, bad because a lot of Gryffindor supporters and Gryffindors were likely to get detention and points taken from our house for it. The fact that Peter was now a crumpled pile of pain didn't influence my feelings in either direction, though I did feel some sympathy for Max and his friends.

I followed the snitch a good thirty feet higher into the air before I was able to reach out and brush the end of it with my fingertips. It tried to get sneaky on me and dive down suddenly, but I picked up a few new moves this past summer that enabled me to out wit it. For the record, it's a lot harder to outwit a snitch than one would think.

As the snitch curved away from me and down, I, instead o f following it in the same direction, flipped backwards, allowing myself to float in midair for a moment before urging my broom down towards the snitch and catching it as it entered its downward dive.

My one regret in doing this was that none of my friends, save Remus, saw it, and it was probably the single most spectacular catch I've ever made. Other than Sirius of course…. Maybe…

The referee blew the whistle and the Gryffindor fans flew into massive celebration and cheering, believing us to have won the game. Of course, they were correct, so their cheering was well founded. The final score of the game was Gryffindor 190, Slytherine 40. I am proud to say that my catching the snitch won us the game.

Of course, the 4 goals made by our Chasers while I was flying around playing tag with the snitch helped as well. James scored twice, Rebby once, and Lily once. Lily also made a spectacular pass to Rebby that involved catching a pass from James, spinning in circles like she was a drill and flinging the quaffle to Rebby while still spinning. The quaffle was in the hoops before the Slytherines figured out that Lily didn't have it anymore. Our beaters did some serious damage to the Slytherine team as well, breaking at least two arms and a leg with a few well placed bludgers aimed by Sirius and Will.

I landed on the field on the Gryffindor side and was immediately attacked by Win and Rach who ran over from the substitute player bench to congratulate me. The rest of the team flew down as well and we all basically ended up in this giant group hug bouncing up and down with excitement. At some point someone tripped and we all ended up sprawled on the ground. We weren't on the ground for too long as the psychotically happy fans pulled us up and carried us all into the building on their shoulders.

On the way to the Gryffindor Tower I saw a couple of interesting things. First, a small group of people in red and gold chasing the Slytherine Seeker around the side of the quidditch pitch back towards the field. Second, one minute Sirius was on top of the shoulders of some big strong guys who were carrying him in next to James. The next minute the big strong guys were gone and there was a mass of girls with too much make up, really small skirts, and the tiniest shirts ever imagined carrying him. Then he was gone. This was probably not a good thing, but I simply rolled my eyes and made a comment to Rebby about hoping Sirius got around to switching over his Will to me as his sole inheritor, seeing as he was probably either being crushed to death by people or snogged to death by about eighty or ninety Fan Girls. I'm sure this should have upset me in some way, but really, I've come to terms with the fact that he's gloriously hot and that it's not his fault if, when mobbed by that many girls, he is forced to cheat on me. I mean honestly, if _I_ was carried off by a bunch of good looking guys to be snogged senseless, I would hope that Sirius would understand the lack of free will in the situation. The last amazingly funny thing I saw on the way in was, when the group of people put us all down, James running up to Lily in his excitement and giving her a big hug, lifting her from her feet and spinning her in circles. What's amazing about this you ask? The fact that after James finished hugging her he kissed her, quite passionately may I add, in the middle of the hallway for a good two minutes. Still don't know what's amazing about this? Well, since you're obviously slow today, I'll tell you.

She kissed him back.


	18. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

"What is it about a quidditch match that makes people so nervous? I mean, honestly, it's the same as a scrimmage during practice only with more people watching, yet somehow it makes everyone really nervous to play in a real game."

"Yeah, sure, you say that Lily, and yet you're playing around with your food, tapping your foot ceaselessly, and you keep scratching your arm." Remus pointed out.

I stuck my tongue out at him and fiddled with my food some more, scooting my eggs from one side of my plate to the other, then mixing them with my bacon and then trying to extract them from the bacon. I realized what I was doing and threw my fork down in frustration. "Alright, fine, so I'm nervous too, I guess nobody's perfect." I crossed my arms over my chest and sighed.

"You should eat, we're in for a long game, we'll need our strength." Becca said.

"Yeah, easy for you to say, you're always hungry."

"What? I prefer snacking continuously to eating three big meals, what's wrong with that?"

"It's not healthy."

"Yeah? Well at least I'm actually eating, you're too busy playing with your food and Rebby looks like she's going to throw up."

"It's called being nervous." Rebby said quietly.

"I'm nervous too, I just channel my fears and nerves into something more useful."

"And where did you learn to do this?" I asked her.

"I told you, I took some martial arts lesson's this summer, and I also joined this yoga group. I didn't stick with either very long, had to come to school and all, but I did stay long enough to learn how to center myself and focus my emotions."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "How very Zen of you" I rolled my eyes and looked at my watch. "It's time to get down to the field."

James, Rebby, Becca, Sirius, Makenzie, Will, Rach, Win, Remus, and I all stood up and headed down to the quidditch pitch. When we reached the stand Remus wished us luck and went to sit in the stands and read while he waited for the game to begin. The rest of us went down to the locker rooms to get suited up for the match.

By the time everyone was dressed we could hear the cheering and yelling of what was probably the entire student body out in the stands, waiting restlessly for the match to begin. James gestured for us all to gather together and began to make his first pre-game speech.

"I'm not very good at the whole inspirational speech making thing, so I'm going to make this short, sweet, and to the point. We're good; I know we're good, they know we're good. I know we can do this, that we can beat them. More importantly, you all know we can beat them as well. Now let's go out there, be confident, kick some butt and walk away with a victory for Gryffindor!"

"Yeah!" everyone yelled in response. Yeah right. Not good at making inspirational speeches my foot.

"Remember, be confident, we can do this, but don't underestimate them." James gave us all a confident look then turned and led the way out to the pitch. We lined up in order of our positions: the Captain first, next the other two Chasers, then the beaters, then the Keeper and the Seeker. After them came our back up players. We could hear the announcer from inside the dressing rooms. First he called the Slytherine team out, naming each of them in turn and their position. "Alright everyone, mount up!" James called. We all climbed onto our brooms and waited for our team to be called as well while the announcer gave some statistics and back ground information of the Slytherine team players.

"Now for the Gryffindor Team!" The announcer yelled, and all nine of us took off onto the pitch, circling it once while the announcer, whose voice, now no longer muffled by the walls of the dressing room, sounded awfully familiar. "We have James Potter, the team Captain and Chaser, Lily Evans and Rebecca "Rebby" Miller, also Chasers; the Beaters, Sirius Black and William "Will" Windstorm; the Keeper, Makenzie "M n' M" Meissner; the Seeker, Rebecca "Becca" Burns, and the substitute players, Windara "Win" Windstorm and Rachel "Rach" Phillips. The new faces on this team are Makenzie, Will, and Win, the old ones, you know of course from their winning season last year." I glanced over at the teacher's box where the announcer was and realized why the voice was so familiar and why the announcer knew all of our nicknames; it was Remus. That sneaky little fuzz ball had gone and signed up for the announcer position and hadn't told me, or anyone else by the surprised looks James and Sirius gave him when we came to a stop in the center of the field. Remus continued to give statistics on our team as we waited for the referee, Madame Twiggins, to fly up to us to review the rules. After reminding us to play a clean game, glaring at the Slytherines as she said it, she flew back down to the ground and released the bludgers and the snitch, then throwing the quaffle up in the air and blowing her whistle simultaneously, she started the game.

"Here we go, ladies and gentlemen, oh, and the Slytherines too—"

"Lupin, stick to the game!"

"Right Professor McGonagall, sorry about that" Remus apologized "Lily comes up with the quaffle for Gryffindor, but Sanders steals it, that's got to be a foul" Remus paused then said "I'm sorry professor, it just slipped. Anyways, Slytherine has the quaffle, they're taking it down the field, Sanders passes to Wrigley, Wrigley sends it back to Sanders, she shoots, but she's blocked by Meissner! Some applause people! That's M n' M Meissner's first save of her career! What, Professor? Well I just thought she deserved a little appreciation, that's all… well I know it's not really relevant to the game Professor… but Professor… fine Professor, I'll 'stick to the game'… yes Professor… well I would but you keep talking to me… right, sorry about the tone Professor, it'll never happen again…" while Remus argued with Professor McGonagall over how to announce the game, I was busy looking for the snitch while Lily, Rebby, and James were scoring twenty points for Gryffindor in quick succession and Sirius and Will were playing ping pong with a bludger before sending it at a Slytherine Chaser.

I looked around the pitch again. No snitch over there… no snitch over there… oh, hey, look, a shiny gold thing that looks like a snitch… too bad it's really a gold watch… oh look! Now _that's_ a gold blur that belongs to a snitch! I took off in the direction of the middle of Gryffindor stands where the snitch was doing a figure 8 over the heads of a few students.

"… Professor, I just told you I won't do it again, I— Hey! It looks like Becca's seen the snitch!" I heard Remus shout to the crowd.

I made a bee line for the snitch, not even glancing over when the Slytherine Seeker joined me in the chase. I was ahead of him by a good five feet and gaining. When I was only ten feet from the snitch, it moved, shrieking straight up into the sky. I changed direction quickly, nearly hitting Peter, who the snitch had been circling apparently, in the head with the tail of my broom in the process.

The Slytherine seeker didn't pull up fast enough, resulting in his crashing head long into the Gryffindor stands right on top of Peter, Max, and a few of Max's friends. This cause the formation of an angry mob of Gryffindor fans who proceeded to chase the Seeker down, and do who knows what with him. I'm not sure how I felt about it. I mean, there was no more competition, good for my prospects of catching the snitch, bad for the level excitement in chasing down the damn thing. Also, the guy had probably gotten beaten the crap up, good because he was a snotty ingrate, bad because a lot of Gryffindor supporters and Gryffindors were likely to get detention and points taken from our house for it. The fact that Peter was now a crumpled pile of pain didn't influence my feelings in either direction, though I did feel some sympathy for Max and his friends.

I followed the snitch a good thirty feet higher into the air before I was able to reach out and brush the end of it with my fingertips. It tried to get sneaky on me and dive down suddenly, but I picked up a few new moves this past summer that enabled me to out wit it. For the record, it's a lot harder to outwit a snitch than one would think.

As the snitch curved away from me and down, I, instead o f following it in the same direction, flipped backwards, allowing myself to float in midair for a moment before urging my broom down towards the snitch and catching it as it entered its downward dive.

My one regret in doing this was that none of my friends, save Remus, saw it, and it was probably the single most spectacular catch I've ever made. Other than Sirius of course…. Maybe…

The referee blew the whistle and the Gryffindor fans flew into massive celebration and cheering, believing us to have won the game. Of course, they were correct, so their cheering was well founded. The final score of the game was Gryffindor 190, Slytherine 40. I am proud to say that my catching the snitch won us the game.

Of course, the 4 goals made by our Chasers while I was flying around playing tag with the snitch helped as well. James scored twice, Rebby once, and Lily once. Lily also made a spectacular pass to Rebby that involved catching a pass from James, spinning in circles like she was a drill and flinging the quaffle to Rebby while still spinning. The quaffle was in the hoops before the Slytherines figured out that Lily didn't have it anymore. Our beaters did some serious damage to the Slytherine team as well, breaking at least two arms and a leg with a few well placed bludgers aimed by Sirius and Will.

I landed on the field on the Gryffindor side and was immediately attacked by Win and Rach who ran over from the substitute player bench to congratulate me. The rest of the team flew down as well and we all basically ended up in this giant group hug bouncing up and down with excitement. At some point someone tripped and we all ended up sprawled on the ground. We weren't on the ground for too long as the psychotically happy fans pulled us up and carried us all into the building on their shoulders.

On the way to the Gryffindor Tower I saw a couple of interesting things. First, a small group of people in red and gold chasing the Slytherine Seeker around the side of the quidditch pitch back towards the field. Second, one minute Sirius was on top of the shoulders of some big strong guys who were carrying him in next to James. The next minute the big strong guys were gone and there was a mass of girls with too much make up, really small skirts, and the tiniest shirts ever imagined carrying him. Then he was gone.

This was probably not a good thing, but I simply rolled my eyes and made a comment to Rebby about hoping Sirius got around to switching over his Will to me as his sole inheritor, seeing as he was probably either being crushed to death by people or snogged to death by about eighty or ninety Fan Girls. I'm sure this should have upset me in some way, but really, I've come to terms with the fact that he's gloriously hot and that it's not his fault if, when mobbed by that many girls, he is forced to cheat on me. I mean honestly, if I was carried off by a bunch of good looking guys to be snogged senseless, I would hope that Sirius would understand the lack of free will in the situation. The last amazingly funny thing I saw on the way in was, when the group of people put us all down, James running up to Lily in his excitement and giving her a big hug, lifting her from her feet and spinning her in circles. What's amazing about this you ask? The fact that after James finished hugging her he kissed her, quite passionately may I add, in the middle of the hallway for a good two minutes. Still don't know what's amazing about this? Well, since you're obviously slow today, I'll tell you.

She kissed him back.


	19. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

'What the hell is going on?' was my first thought. Actually, my first thought, my very first thought, was 'this is nice…' but the first thought that counted, my first sane thought, was 'what the hell is going on?'; these thoughts, of course, being in response to the sudden, completely unexpected, and unwanted kiss initiated by one James Harold Potter.

Yes, his middle name is Harold, let's not get distracted now.

In my complete and utterly shocked and surprised state, I did what came naturally, I kissed him back. I mean, if some guy just randomly walks up to you and kisses you, much less a friend, what are you going to do? Especially when you're really happy after, say, winning a quidditch game? You're not going to pull back, slap him, and run away. No. You're going to kiss him back and hope he gets too drunk in his celebrating to remember that you kissed him back to begin with.

The fact that James Potter is an absolutely heavenly kisser has, of course, no bearing on this decision; none at all. Nope… not a single bit of influence was inflicted upon me during those few wonderful minutes…

See? I'm still overly happy from the victory over Slytherine. It's affecting my decision making. That and I'm pretty sure whatever Sirius gave me in that cup earlier wasn't just soda. The fact that my best friends are trying to seduce a guy they are not dating and have no interest in dating also may be having some effect on my mental state. I'm pretty sure someone was stripping earlier too. Wait. Maybe I should start from the beginning. Well, actually the end; the end of the game that is.

You see, we won the quidditch game, a game that we were all sure we were going to lose, against Slytherine. This, while perhaps seeming a teensy bit average to you, was a HUGE deal to us. 'Us' being the quidditch team, the entire Gryffindor house, the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students who supported us in the game, and probably our Head of House, Professor McGonagall, who is a closet quidditch addict. So, of course, when we won, everyone went crazy. Our entire team was carried up to the tower on the fans shoulders. Sirius disappeared at some point amid a crowd of his fan girls, though Becca looked nearly un-phased by the occurrence. James and I just happened to be sat down next to each other by the portrait hole. Our overly excited state resulted in James grabbing me and pulling me into a big hug, swinging me around in circles why saying in a sing song voice 'we wo-on! we wo-on!' before placing me back on my feet and planting the kiss of a lifetime on my lips.

Now, at first, as I mentioned above, I was slightly pleased by this. He _is_ a good kisser after all, and I _do_ like him, sort of, deep down. Add to this the fact that I was blinded by happiness and I have a perfectly iron clad excuse for kissing him back for a full two minutes before running into the commons. In the commons we were greeted by a fully decorated room full of streamers, 'congratulations!' banners, and refreshments. Where it all came from, I don't know, don't want to know, and at the time, did not care. It looked great though. The entire Gryffindor house partied for a few hours until Sirius ran in, his clothes in tatters, missing a shoe, his hair completely out of sorts, and slammed the portrait hole behind him, holding it closed with his body.

"Someone save me! They won't leave me alone! They're crazy I tell you! Absolutely stark raving mad!" Sirius shouted. His voice was a pitch higher than usual and he seemed to have developed a nervous eye twitch in the last three hours.

Becca made her way over to him. Her first response was to poke him. Why? Who knows? She's always been a weird one, but I suppose that's why I like her so much. Her second response was to ask him "Er, what happened to you?" with raised eyebrow and a suppressed smirk of amusement.

"I've been bloody running from a pack of obsessive, psychotic girls who seem to think that ripping my clothes off my back is an acceptable form of greeting! They kidnapped me! They carried me off and tried to take my clothes as souvenirs! They chased me for _three hours_ through the halls!" as Sirius continued to describe the horrors that he suffered, a large rumble was growing outside the portrait hole. The rumble was soon joined by something being pounded against the portrait hole. The fan girls were clearly one, off their rockers, and two, trying to break into the tower. All of this to get a piece of Sirius's clothing? Yeesh...

"Somebody hide me!" Sirius yelled. To his credit, he looked truly frightened. Of course, James, Remus, Rebby, and Becca decided that this would be the perfect moment to burst into laughter. I simply rolled my eyes, walked briskly over to where Sirius and Becca were, grabbed them both by the ear, and dragged them off towards the boys dorms, James, Remus, the rest of our friends, and a small amount of people who were somewhat friends of some of us, following in my wake. I led them up the stairs until I reached a portrait of a crazy looking old witch with one wide open eye and another squinty eye, the overall effect making her look like her eyes were two different sizes, and grey hair styled by the same person who did the Bride of Frankenstein's.

"Can I help you, dear-y?" she asked in a creaky old voice when I turn to face her.

"Yes, you can. Open up and let us through please. The password is 'candycane'." I said quickly, glancing behind me.

"True, that is the password, I suppose I'll have to let you pass now." She was seated in a chair in her portrait in front of a door. She now stood up, scooted her chair aside, and swung the door open. Only the door didn't just open in the portrait, but in the hall way as well.

"Alright, everyone follow me if you're coming." I said. The group, minus Remus, who said he would be along in a minute with snacks, followed me through a hidden passage that led to another portrait just down the hall from where the portrait of the Fat Lady resides. I opened it slowly, peeking out to see if anyone was nearby or looking in our direction. What I saw was a group of at least forty skimpily clad girls mobbing the door to the Gryffindor Tower. Imbociles.

I waved people out, one at a time, telling them to go to the Room of Requirements, since I knew it would be a safe place to hide Sirius away for a short time. I was honestly afraid for his well being. Really, those girls were crazy. Plus that eye twitch of his was starting to worry me; it was spreading to his shoulder, so that now he'd occasionally break into small spasms and twitch for a few minutes before returning to normal. That can't be good, you know?

As I waved the last two people out, Sirius, covered in a long black cloak, and Becca, who was now pulling her melodramatic spy act, Remus came up behind me along with James, who had apparently gone with him to get the snacks, carrying a large trunk that I assumed was full of food.

"We don't need all that, we're heading to the Room of Requirements." I whispered to them.

"Yes we do." James smiled "It isn't food. It's a distraction for the mob out there." He winked his eye at me and stepped past me into the hall along with Remus. They set the trunk down, unlocked it, and waved for me to follow them down the side hall I had sent everyone else down earlier a short ways. After a bit James stopped, turned, and waved his wand at the trunk. The lid popped open on it, a large amount of fireworks went off, and what I could have sworn was Sirius jumped out and ran down the hall in the opposite direction of the Room of Requirements, the pack of fan girls chasing after him.

"What the hell was that?"

"Our invention made specifically for this problem. Though, we've never had to use it simply for Sirius. Usually it's for Sirius, James, and occasionally myself when we are in a group after an exciting event or after an announcement has been made about an upcoming Ball or unexpected Hogsmeade trip." Remus said casually.

"Ah, I see." I replied. "I knew they were obsessed with you all, but I had no idea that they often chased you about in an attempt to take your clothing as souvenirs."

"Well, no usually they just want dates, but they make it extremely hard to get to class on time." James said, shrugging it off.

"The fact that you two treat this so nonchalantly is a little disturbing." I stated bluntly.

"Yeah, you get used to it." James said "Last one to the Room of Requirements is a rotten dragon egg!" he yelled, glancing at the two of us before taking off down the hallway. Remus and I shared a glance and a perfectly timed joint eye rolling before taking off after him, if only to make sure he didn't trip and fall down three flights of stairs or something. Plus, I like to run, it's fun, and racing is fun too.

When we reached the Room of Requirements we entered to find the place in an uproar. It was better decorated than Gryffindor Tower, had more food and drinks, and extremely loud music was coming out of large amplifiers by the fireplace. It sounded like a live band was playing in the room. People were everywhere dancing and laughing. The only one's not making merry were Sirius and Becca. Becca was listening to Sirius recount the horrors of his evening while trying not to laugh. Sirius was double fisting glasses of coca-cola. Wait. Why would he be double fisting coca-cola?

Then I noticed the half empty bottles of fire whiskey, rum, and tequila and the four blenders that were running containing margaritas and three types of daiquiris. Dear lord the Room of Requirements has been turned into a bar.

Remus wandered off to find Rach, melting into the group of dancing people and being lost to my sight completely. James turned to me and said "Are you okay?"

"Who? Me? I'm fine. The Room of Requirements has been turned into a bar, I just had to help Sirius escape from a mob of crazed skanks, and Sirius is double fisting what I strongly suspect is rum and coke. Oh yeah, I'm fine." I threw my hands in the air and collapsed onto a squishy chair that appeared beneath my bottom at just the right moment.

"Look on the bright side," James said "this is a really good song." He smiled and held out his hand "Care to dance?" he asked.

"What the hell." I said, standing up and letting him drag me onto the dance floor where I spent the first ten minutes feeling awkward until Rebby told me to loosen up and have some fun.

I danced for a while, with various partners, then the dancing sort of died down, and everyone decided to play a game. We were debating between two games, Truth or Dare and Quarters, when Rebby jumped up and said "I KNOW! We can play that one game." To which Becca and I replied "Oh god." and blushed profusely. No one else knew what she was talking about, so, of course, they asked what she was talking about. This caused her to explain the game and its rules.

"Okay. So the game is called "Baby if you love me" and the point is to make the person in the middle smile, okay? So, everyone needs to circle up." Rebby waited while people sort of meandered over to where she was and started forming a circle. "Okay, now, first we select a person to be in the center first. We'll go ahead and let it be me since I'm explaining the game… we'll call this the practice run." Rebby sat down on the floor in the center of the circle. "So now I get to pick someone to try and make me smile. Everything goes for this, except tickling sometimes. Should we allow tickling?" Rebby looked at me questioningly.

"No, I think that would make certain people way too easy to make smile." I replied, smirking to myself. This should be fun… especially since I had a feeling I knew who she was going to pick first.

"Alright, now, the person I pick has to try to make me smile, by doing anything they like except for tickling. At some point they have to say the words "Baby if you love me won't you please smile" and I, or the current victim, I mean, person in the center, says in response "I'm sorry baby, but I just can't smile." The person in the center can't smile or laugh while they say this either. When the person finally smiles, then the person who made them smile becomes the person in the center and the person who was just in the center gets to pick someone to be the person trying to make them smile. Everyone got it?" Everyone nodded yes, some a little reluctantly, though I am unsure if it was because they were reluctant to play or just weren't completely sure of the rules. "GOOD! Then I piiiiiiccckkkk….. Remus!"

"Um, why?" Becca asked.

"Because I think it will be awkward for him, which brings greater amusement to me." Rebby explained.

"Ah, I see."

"Glad you enjoy my pain and suffering." Remus rolled his eyes as he walked into the center of the circle.

See, now I actually didn't expect this. This was completely unexpected. I was completely and utterly surprised by this choice. How many more ways can I say it? See, now I was expecting her to choose Becca or I because we know the game, she especially likes to force me to play it because it makes me feel so uncomfortable. Strange…

"So…" Remus said, standing there awkwardly.

"Do your worst." Rebby said, then, composing herself as best she could, set her features in a neutral look.

"Er, well then… you're right, this is awkward… umm…." Remus scratched the back of his head. "'Baby if you love me won't you please smile.'"

"'I'm sorry baby but I just can't smile'" she replied, shaking her head, her face still neutral, though I could tell she was just dying to laugh already.

"Alright then…" Remus began trying everything he could think of to make her smile, including pulling funny faces, dancing around like a monkey, and sitting in her lap and telling her to read him a bed time story wile sucking his thumb. Nothing worked. Rebby was on a roll. She was a brick wall, completely unbreakable. Then Remus apparently pulled out the big guns. "Fine then, since this doesn't seem to be working, you leave me no other choice." Now, you have to keep in mind that, while he seems completely innocent to most, including myself until I began hanging out with him on this year. Remus hopped up from Rebby's lap, walked straight over to Sirius and planted a kiss flat on his lips before anyone could move.

The room had been filled with laughter from everyone watching Remus's antics, now it was dead silent. Remus sat down on Sirius's lap, put an arm around his neck, and proceeded to act like, well, Becca actually. Sirius was in shell shock. He just sat there, his eye twitching yet again. Slowly, he closed his eyes, reached down, picked up his cup full cup of rum and coke and chugged it, Remus codling him like a girl and fawning over him all the while. After he did this, he turned to look at Remus and said "If you ever do that again, I'm going to throw up and hurt you. Not necessarily in that order. Perhaps I'll even do both at the same time."

Now, as he said this with a completely straight face, it made it all the more funny. The problem was, everyone was too shocked to laugh. Until of course Remus planted a big kiss on his cheek and said "Oh please you know you liked it." in a girlish voice. At that point, everyone burst into laughter, including Rebby who ended up rolling around on the floor for a good ten minutes.

Remus stood up from Sirius's lap rather quickly and ran away to the other side of the room. Sirius stood up, made like he was going to follow Remus, but changed his mind and ran in the direction of the restroom instead. I guess that was the order the events would come in, throwing up first, beating Remus second.

"That was amazing!" Becca managed to get out between laughs.

"Yes, wasn't it?" I agreed. "Too funny! Could you just imagine Remus gay; even better, Remus and Sirius gay and dating!"

Becca sat up straight and gave me a look. "Don't even joke about that. I would be sad if Sirius broke up with me, I would die if it was to date Remus."

"Well… good thing he's definitely not gay then." Rach said. "Trust me, I would know." She winked at us and gave him a peck on the check causing him to blush. Other than the blushing, he was sitting completely silent next to Rach, looking extremely pleased with him self.

Once everyone quieted down and Sirius came back, chased Remus around the room for a while, then sat down again as well, Rebby said "Okay! Shut up already! Remus's turn, and I get to pick who has to make him laugh." She looked around the room with an evil smile on her face. She surveyed each face carefully then finally decided on "PETER!"

"W-what?! M-me? Really? Do I have to? I didn't even know I w-was playing!" he stammered. "B-besides, I have to, er, go and d-do, er, something right now..." carried on, slowly edging towards the door." Er... bye!" he said and ran from the room.

"Spoil sport." Rebby muttered. "Fine then, he leaves me no choice but to pick Rach instead. Mainly because there's nothing more awkward than your girlfriend trying to make you smile in front of a room full of people when you're not supposed to smile." she smiled, happy with herself, and waited for the fun to begin as Rach walked to the center of the room and surveyed Remus and his calm composure.

"Now let's see," Rachel circled Remus like a shark does it's prey, staring at him all the time. If I were Remus, I'd be nervous right now. I don't know Rachel very well, but what I do know of her is that she's a very capable girl, very clever; so clever I would have thought she'd have been put into Slytherine, but I suppose she doesn't have that whole hatred of anyone not pureblooded going on now does she? Or the ability to put herself above everyone else on her list of priorities. She puts her friends first, like all the rest of us dumb Gryffindors.

"Stupid freaking Slytherines think they know everything..." I mumbled to myself.

"You okay Lily?" James asked, sitting down beside me, a freshly refilled glass of 'coke' in his hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said tersely.

"You sure? 'Cause yur face iz doing the tomato preson 'gin." Sirius said, sitting down on my other side.

"Why you-!" I almost started to pummel him, but Becca sat down in between us.

"Oh hush Lily, he's drunk and you know it. Can't really blame the guy with the mob that was after him earlier; I'd be half past shnockered if I were him too, and you know how much alcohol that takes for i_me_/i."

"Yeah, well, tell him to keep his thoughts to himself." I replied.

"'ere you go. Try dis stuff. Itle make yer fil betther..." Sirius leaned past Becca with a full glass of 'coke', which i took from him before he passed out on her lap.

"Well, this is inconvenient." Becca said, looking down at Sirius irritatedly "I wanted to play the game."

"I'm sure his lover-boy Remus would absolutely love to baby-sit him for you when your turn comes round." I said. "What's in this?"

"It's rum and coke, but there's not much rum in it, the bottle was nearly empty when he poured his drink."

"Hmmm... No since in wasting, with the night I'm having i might as well..." I took a deep drink of the rum and coke and smiled as the liquor went straight to my head. Oh boy, this'll be fun.

"I've got it!" I turned as Rachel stopped pacing around Remus, sat on her knees in front of him, leaned in, and kissed him on the mouth. When she leaned back it revealed Remus sitting there blushing and smiling like an idiot.

"That was a little too easy." I commented amid the hoots and hollers of the people sitting around the room.

"Nah, all she would of had to do is say that she was going to kiss him and you would have gotten that reaction. Remus is a real push over when it comes to girls. You know, the overly romantic sort. He gets it from all those books he reads." James said, shaking his head and smirking at the look on his friends face.

"Which makes you what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Which makes me a slightly less overly romantic sort whose involved in a friendship with his unrequited love."

"Or it makes you a stalker."

"True, that's one way of seeing it." he made an annoyed face.

"Okay, I pick... Sirius to go next." Remus said.

"Actually, Sirius is out of commission. He downed about half a bottle of rum after you kissed him the second time." Becca said, trying not to laugh, though why that's funny I've no idea.

"Ah, I see..." Remus said, sighing. He walked over towards Sirius and Becca. "Well then, I pick Lily." He said as he reached the two of them and hoisted Sirius up, throwing his arm around his shoulder and, with Becca on the other side helping, took him over to one of the empty sofas on the other side of the room.

"Er... I didn't really want to play, but okay." I stepped awkwardly into the center of the circle and made a thinking face while trying to think of how to get Rach to smile. Then it occurred to me, why do anything when doing nothing is always so much more productive. I sat down on the floor in front of Rach and stared at her. "Hi." was all I said. Then I proceeded to stare at her quietly for the next ten minutes. At the end of ten minutes, she began to fidget nervously. At the end of eleven minutes she began to twitch. At the end of twelve, she began to shake, and not like a seizure, like she was laughing, only without the sound. I extended my neck like i was trying to reach her without actually moving anything but my head and neck, the rest of my body remaining completely still, eyes fixed on her. Apparently this was comical, because she began cracking up. Everyone started laughing as well, though whether it was because of my movement or Rach's infectious laughter I've no idea.

"Well then, I believe it's my turn to pretend I'm a statue." I said, as the laughter died down.

"Yup, and Rach gets to pick your torturer." Becca said, and evil smile on her face. "Pick me, oh please pick me. Oh the wonderfully disturbing things I have planned for her. Oh please pick me."

"Rach, remember while your picking that I know where you sleep."

"And that means?"

"And that means if you pick Becca I'll hurt you while your sleeping."

"Ah, I see, well then, I suppose I pick James."

"You forget I know where you sleep."

"No, you said you'd hurt me if I picked Becca. I picked James, live with it." she wiggled her eyebrows at me and sat down, a smug look on her face.

"Fine. You win this time, but I'll get you later, don't you think I won't." with this, I took her place in the center of the circle and waited while James stood up and walked over. He gave me a surveying look, like he was scoping me out for weaknesses and such. Then his slightly puzzled and serious face slowly grew into a smirk and an evil smile.

That couldn't be a good sign.

James straightened his back and shoulders, cleared his throat, and began to sing, I kid you not, sing. His song of choice: 'I'm Too Sexy' by Right Said Fred.

"I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love  
Love's going to leave me"

He started dancing around and waved his wand making the background music to the come from thin air.

"I'm too sexy for my shirt too sexy for my shirt  
So sexy it hurts  
And I'm too sexy for Milan too sexy for Milan  
New York and Japan"

And now he was stripping himself of his shirt, spinning it around over his head, and tossing it. The good news is he has nice abs, the bad news, he's shirtless and singing 'I'm too sexy' to me, and the shirt just happened to land on top of my head.

"And I'm too sexy for your party  
Too sexy for your party  
No way I'm disco dancing"

He pulled a little disco move and span around and continued his dance and song.

"I'm a model you know what I mean  
And I do my little turn on the catwalk  
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah  
I do my little turn on the catwalk"

He walked back and forth in front of me, wiggling his but as he turned around to walk the other way. People were now either cheering him on, or laughing hysterically at James's antics.

"I'm too sexy for my car too sexy for my car  
Too sexy by far  
And I'm too sexy for my hat  
Too sexy for my hat what do you think about that"

He magicked in a top hat and threw it into the 'audience', to the joy of many a squealing girl, and sang the rest of the song.

"I'm a model you know what I mean  
And I do my little turn on the catwalk  
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah  
I shake my little tushy on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my too sexy for my too sexy for my

'Cos I'm a model you know what I mean  
And I do my little turn on the catwalk  
Yeah on the catwalk on the catwalk yeah  
I shake my little tushy on the catwalk

I'm too sexy for my cat too sexy for my cat  
Poor pussy poor pussy cat  
I'm too sexy for my love too sexy for my love  
Love's going to leave me"

Well now that last verse is just a little disturbing.

"And I'm too sexy for this song"

He finished with a pose, arms crossed over his chest and funny look on his face that was supposed to be cool.

Now, there are a lot of ways to react to this, I chose to raise an eyebrow and roll my eyes at him. No smile what so ever. Am I the master or what?

"What? Not even a twitch? Come on!" James complained. "Fine! You leave me no choice!" He cleared his throat, rolled his neck around and shook his hands out, then started looking about the crowd for something. "Where'd my shirt get off to?" he asked.

I held it out and waved it around a bit to get his attention as I wasn't allowed to speak at the moment.

"Oh! There it is. Well, you can keep it Lily, i know how much you like to steal my shirts." He wiggled his eyebrows at me. I glared at him and dropped the shirt on the floor next to me. He waved his wand and a bright pink button down shirt appeared in his hand. James proceeded to put the shirt on and button it halfway down, then tie the remaining shirt tail in a knot above his belly button. He turned around and did something with his wand that made Rebby, Becca and a few others laugh, then waved his wand and music came out of thin air again; this time it was 'Wannabe' by the Spice Girls. He jumped and span around just as he began to sing in a high pitched voice.

"Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,  
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,  
I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,  
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,  
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really  
Really really wanna zigazig ha. " 

He was dancing again. I'll not describe it, the mental image would be too terrifying for you to handle. He also was wearing hideous pink make up and sparkly pink high heels. Scary.

"If you want my future forget my past,  
If you wanna get with me better make it fast,  
Now don't go wasting my precious time,  
Get your act together we could be just fine.

I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,  
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,  
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really,  
Really really wanna zigazig ha.

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,  
Make it last forever friendship never ends,  
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,  
Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is.

What do you think about that now you know how I feel,  
Say you can handle my love are you for real,  
I won't be hasty, I'll give you a try,  
If you really bug me then I'll say goodbye.

Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want,  
So tell me what you want, what you really really want,  
I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna, I wanna really,  
Really really wanna zigazig ha. 

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,   
Make it last forever friendship never ends,  
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,  
Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is.

So here's a story from A to Z, you wanna get with me,  
You gotta listen carefully,  
We got Em in the place who likes it in your face,  
We got G like MC who likes it on an,   
Easy V doesn't come for free, she's a real lady,  
And as for me you'll see, ah you'll see  
Slam your body down and wind it all around,  
Slam your body down and wind it all around.

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends,  
Make it last forever friendship never ends,  
If you wanna be my lover, you have got to give,  
Taking is too easy, but that's the way it is. 

If you wanna be my lover, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta,   
You gotta, you gotta, slam, slam, slam, slam,  
Slam your body down and wind it all around,  
Slam your body down and wind it all around,  
Slam your body down and wind it all around,  
Slam your body down zigazig ha.  
If you wanna be my lover." 

"You're insane." I said before I could stop myself. Then I laughed for a good twenty minutes. What? It was funny...

Once the laughter was under control, both mine and the rest of the people in the room, I moved over to the side lines allowing James to sit in my spot. "Don't forget your shirt honey."

"I'm not your 'honey' so don't call me that." I glared at him, but I doubt he saw the glared because his shirt landed on my face for the second time that night. "Just for that, I pick Becca. She has better torture methods than I do anyways. Plus she lives for this game."

Becca shot from her seat and was in front of James smiling evilly before you could say 'quidditch'. She looked down at him, cocked her head to one side, pulled in back up normally, then proceeded to stretch her arms and legs and back, pop her knuckles and wrists, hop up and down and jog in place a little. "Now, let the fun begin." The evil smile returned to her face and she wiggled her eyebrows at him menacingly. "Hehehe..."

"The poor unsuspecting victim..." Rebby said next to me.

"It's James, he deserves what he gets."

"I thought you two were friends now?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean a little payback for the last 5 years of torture isn't going to be welcomed now does it?"

"Um, I guess not..."

"It sure as hell isn't." I watched happily as Becca got ready to, well, to do what ever it was she was planning on doing. It was sure to be amusing, terrifying, and odd all at the same time.

" I need everyone to scoot back. No, more, just scoot all the way back, there you go, that's better. Now we just need this." she waved her wand and mats appeared underneath both her a James extending from one edge of the crowd to the other. "Now we can begin." Becca walked to the opposite side of the floor then turned and faced James.

James raised an eyebrow at Becca as if to say 'what the heck are you doing' but remained silent. Becca seemed to summon all of her energy in one inhale of breath, raising her arms above her head. Then she swung them down fast and used the motion to start her forward, ran three steps towards James, did a couple of strange flippy things, and stopped not even a step away from his face. Everyone looked at her like she was insane, wondering, as was I, how this was supposed to make him laugh. James looked at her like he though she was trying to kill him, not make him laugh. With Becca the two things tend to go hand in hand...

"Hmm... One more step ought to do it... Maybe extend the handspring..." Becca said to herself, returning to her spot and repeating the process. This time she took three steps, and instead of doing whatever it was she did before, this time she did a trick combination I recognized from a couple of summers back when she and I had been at Rebby's messing around on her trampoline.

At the time we had been having a trick contest and when Rebby and I got excited over Becca's back flip, she had said we 'hadn't seen nothing' yet' and flooed home, returning five minutes later with a small box that just happened to be a self folding tumble-track. She had explained that a friend of a friend's father had made it for her birthday and showed them how, by pushing a button on top, it expanded and unfolded into a really long rectangular trampoline with a big squishy mat at the end.

Two years later and I still remember the name of the trick she did that first time down the tumble track that day. "Round-off back handspring double back tuck." I said quietly even as Becca hit the floor after the back handspring and proceeded to complete the double back tuck over his head, landing behind him. "Holy crap, she's insane." I said louder.

"You're telling me. Haven't I seen that trick of hers before somewhere though?" Rebby asked me.

"Two years ago, your house, the day she brought the tumble track."

"Oh yeah... Crazy flippin amazing."

"That's one way to describe it." another was dangerous.

Now Becca walked back a few steps, ran at James, and did the same trick again over him. It's not really necessary to say this, but he was a little freaked out. He was even more freaked out when, on Becca's fourth attempt, she ran straight for him and dived, seemingly at him, before completely disappearing altogether. She didn't ram into him, because he didn't get completely destroyed. She just sort of vanished. Everyone, after the initial shock, looked every which way to try and figure out where she was, but no one could see her anywhere. Then I saw a slight shimmer in the air, like the outline of a person when the light hits them just right when they're under the Disillusionment spell. The person I saw the shimmer next too suddenly had bright pink hair. As a matter of fact, a lot of the people in the room were suddenly exhibiting strange changes of skin and hair color. It was pretty durn funny too. James had begun to notice as well, and I could tell he found it extremely funny when Remus suddenly had bright orange and purple striped hair shaped into a Mohawk and was wearing eyeliner and mascara, the combination making him look like a punk rock reject wannabe. Then I suddenly felt a breeze around my neck.

James just happened to be seated so that he was directly facing me, Rebby, Rach and Remus in our little group. While we were all laughing at Remus, all of us except James of course, Becca was apparently busy giving me a makeover as well. I didn't even realize anything was going on until I had realized that my hair, which I had worn down around my shoulders for once, was not in fact, down around my shoulders. My hair was up, and I hadn't put it up.

Uh-oh.

James was the first to see me after Becca did her stealthy work and I saw his eyes go wide in surprise. I, noticing him sudden change in expression, took it upon myself to conjure a mirror to see what Becca had done to me. It was kind of scary. My butt length red hair now held real gold highlights and black low lights and was spiked straight up from my head. My face was covered in red, gold, and black face paint, complete with the black stripes under the eyes you always see on American football players. I also had the same make-up job as Remus only with black lipstick as well. My clothes also changed, becoming an all black outfit of form fitting cargo pants and a tiny tube top. When I looked in the mirror I got the distinct impression that I was looking at a combination football player/Goth chick/slut troll. When I say troll, I don't mean the real kind either, I mean the little things muggles tend to keep on their desks and such and that muggle children like to play with that have neon colored hair that sticks straight up in a cone shape all the time.

My reaction to this was instantaneous. I tossed aside the mirror, jumped to my feet, pulled out my wand, and, spotting Becca as she paused at what I can only assume was her next victim, taking the disillusionment charm off her. "YOU! DEAD! NOW!" I yelled, chasing a scared Becca around the room so that I could beat her senseless. Of course, I was now wearing huge black boots that were probably heavier than an elephant after it eats dinner and a tiny tube top that kept attempting to fall off. This made catching her impossible, even with her stopping and slowing down to laugh every now and then. "RRAAAAAHHH!!!" I let out my frustration and zapped my shoes back to normal with my wand, as well as my hair, and was about to do the same with my tube top and pants when Becca hit my shirt with a bright yellow spell and smiled at me evilly. "WHAT did you just do?" I asked, attempting to change my shirt back to normal. It wouldn't change. I tried my pants and they changed back to jeans right away, but my shirt would not change back. "Beeecccaaaaaaa...!" I yelled.

"What? I think that top looks good on you, you should wear navel bearing outfits more often, they complement your body type. Though, perhaps not with those jeans..." she smiled cheekily at me and waved her wand again, twice this time. My jeans turned into a blue mini skirt and my shoes into strappy four inch high heels. "Better." she smiled again and put the same spell on the skirt and shoes as she had the shirt so that I couldn't change them back. "Now now, it isn't nice to ruin plan." she said winking at me then glancing quickly at James.

Following her gestures, I glanced at him too quickly; he was obviously very happy about my new out fit. What ever it is with guys and short skirts and high heels I don't know, but the fact that I was wearing one nearly had him in fits of happiness, except he wasn't quite smiling yet. I looked back at Becca and she wiggled her eyebrows at me, a sign that she uses for two things: to suggest sexual innuendo about a comment she makes and to tell someone to play along. For the purpose of my sanity, I assumed she wanted me to play along.

She waved her wand once more, this time with out actually saying the spell, and I turned, as if on command, and walked seductively towards James. He looked up at me as I reached him and swallowed. I was apparently very intimidating when I acted seductive in a tiny top, too short skirt, and too high heels. Good to know for future reference. I reached down and placing my index finger under his chin, raised him up to his feet by mere suggestion of movement. I leaned into him, lifting my mouth to his ear and whispered "Babbling bumbling band of baboons."

I stepped back and looked at his face. He sort of blinked, then looked at me and started to laugh. "You're insane you know that?"

"Wasn't me, she made me do it!" I said, claiming complete and utter innocence in Becca's little scheme.

"Oh, so this was all her idea?" James asked between fits of laughter.

"Yes, yes it was." She said, smiling, very pleased with herself. "Been planning it since the game started and I'm ever so glad I got to use it on you two, made it all the more funnier." her smiled became mischievous and she turned to me and said quietly, so that only I could hear her with all the racket in the room "Later we'll have to talk about what exactly you said, seeing as I definitely wasn't actually controlling you."

"Yeah, sure, later." I said. I mean, what I said wasn't exactly a big secret, but the fact that she didn't know was, and Becca is an overly curious one, so she probably really wanted to know what I said. "So, who's up next?" I asked loudly.

The game continued for quite some time, nearly everyone having a turn at it. Becca lasted the shortest amount of time in trying not to laugh, Win had only to make a certain gesture and say a certain word and Becca burst into uncontrollable laughter that lasted for a good fifteen minutes until Rebby and I dragged her over to laugh by the now semi-conscious Sirius on the couch so that the game could continue, which it did at full speed until at least three in the morning. By that time Becca and Sirius had disappeared off into some dark corner of the room, a broom cupboard perhaps, to snog each others faces off, if you'll pardon my bluntness. Remus, James, Rach, Rebby, and I had ended up sitting on the couch, talking and laughing at the people still playing the game among other topics. The one rum and coke had been pretty good, so I had another one, and then Rebby made me participate in a round of shots, then James suckered me into a couple of rounds of Quarters. After playing two rounds of Quarters I was extremely happy and decided that rum and coke was my new favorite drink. I had a couple more of those and was feeling pretty woozy. Rebby was going insane with the shots, Remus wasn't drinking, Rach drank less than I did, and James drank more than I did with about the same results as I had, a little wooziness. Becca and Sirius were still with us up until that point, then they both had to go to the restroom. Together. At the same time. Yeah, way to keep your intentions secret guys. They definitely didn't end up in the restroom though, as i went in to make sure Rebby was okay when she never came back. She was fine, she just kept trying to open the door the wrong way and even walked into the door once when she got it right.

At some point Remus took Rach back to the Gryffindor dorms. Sirius and Becca reappeared long enough to take a few shots of fire whiskey in quick succession, then escort Rebby, who was falling down drunk, back to the dorms. Win came over and plopped down next to me and we talked for a while. James was talking with Makenzie, who as part of the team had taken it upon herself to come along as well and get sloshed, about quidditch and how annoying Slytherines were.

"Thothse bloody Sleetherones are surch gitses! The lother dayuh, dis kid in mah potons classsss... oi, whir'd ma friendsies go?" she stopped mid sentence to exclaim upon realizing that the two friends she had come with had gone back without her. Then she fell backwards out of her chair while trying to look behind her. There was still a good amount of people at the party having fun, but none I knew very well.

"Here Kenzie, let's get you back to the dorms." I stood to help her and the floor moved a little and I collapsed back onto the couch, nearly on top of James.

"How about _I _help her back to the dorms, and you two help each other back to the dorms?" Win offered. She hadn't been drinking so she was completely sober and the ground didn't move when she stood up.

"Good idea. You walk her back, well walk each other halfway back and pass out in the hallway..." I commented rolling my eyes. Bad idea, now I was dizzy again. I opened my eyes to say something else to Win, but she and Kenzie were all ready gone. "Damn. They disappeared fast."

"Yup. You ready to head back? I'm getting a little tired."

"Er, yeah, sure." We both stood up and started for the door. James pulled out the Marauders Map and looked it over before stepping out. "What are you, a boy scout? I suppose you brought your invisibility cloak, a tent, some flint to make fire with and a tent as well, just in case?"

"What are you talking about? I didn't think you drank that much, you're talking nonsense."

"Oh, sorry, muggle references."

"And I gave my invisibility cloak to Sirius, I figured he, Becca and Rebby could use the help getting back unnoticed."

"You ARE a boy scout aren't you?" I laughed at his confused face. "A boy scout is something a lot of muggle boys do when they're younger. It kind of like a big year round camp where they get badges and stuff for doing things like pitching a tent and starting a fire with flint instead of matches. They learn survival skills and stuff and their motto is "Always be prepared.""

"Ooooohhh... Okay. Now it makes sense."

"Yeah... Let me see the map." I said, taking it from him. "This thing is so cool. I still don't know how you four always seem to find the most unusual and interesting spells. Where did you- Oh crap!" I grabbed James and pulled him into the nearest room, which just happened to be a small closet with old rolled up rugs and carpets being stored in it. The space was so small in the closet that the two of us were uncomfortably close.

James asked "What the bloody- why are we in a closet?"

"Sshhh! Teacher!" I hissed. Then whispered quietly "MacGonagall was turning the corner into our hallway."

"Oh. Is she still out there?" he whispered back.

"I don't know, I can't see the map. Hang on." I had my wand between the belt of the tiny skirt that Becca had never changed back and the waist band and had to shift around to reach it. This shift caused me to loose balance in the dark and fall backwards into a pile of rugs against the wall. I reached out mid fall and grabbed the first thing I could lay my hands on to balance myself: James's shirt. As I fell back and hit the rugs with a soft thump, I pulled him forward accidentally. He caught himself with one hand on either side of my head, just above my bare shoulders. We were now way past awkward. We were now in the vicinity of the twilight zone. Enter funny theme music: doo doo doo doo, doo doo doo doo.

"Sorry." I muttered breathlessly. He smelled of some sort of after shave or body wash, and it smelled really good. If is the last thing I do I am going to hunt down that brand of soap and stock it at home for when I'm feeling depressed. Of course, because of the fact that I was slightly intoxicated, these thought sort of slipped into the 'to say' column in my brain. "You smell nice."

"Er... Thanks? You smell nice too?" he replied questioningly. "I'd move but my shirts caught on something. Sorry."

At this point I realized that I still had a hold on the front of his shirt, so I released him. "There." I said. I felt him move back a step and moved as well, but apparently walking in the dark while you're tipsy isn't the best idea, because I fell backwards again, this time I was further from the wall of rugs and hit them harder, taking James with me yet again.

This time he didn't catch himself as well, and he ended up with his body an inch from mine, one hand over each of my shoulders, his face a couple of inches from my own, effectively pinning me to the wall. He had reached back as he fell trying to grab onto something behind him to keep from falling, but all he succeeded in doing was causing a rug avalanche, at least four or five heavy rugs landing on his back, even more probably leaning against those.

"You smell nice." I found myself saying again. Well, he did! I also found myself saying "And you're warm, it's pretty freaking cold in this building."

"Um, yeah, cold." he replied, his face only inches from mine and getting closer as the weight of the rugs grew.

"So, um, yeah..." I mumbled. Elegant aren't I? "Aw, screw it all." I whispered, pulling his shirt forward and forcing his head to come forward with it. I kissed him lightly, then deeper, not giving a rats ass about where we were, why we were there, or the fact that i had sworn I would never do this very thing with this very person.

That is how I found myself thinking 'what the hell is going on?'

Of course, my confusion and dismay over the person I was kissing was soon brushed aside as he kissed me again, deeper this time, pulling my body towards his with one strong hand on my lower back and the other bracing the two of us against the wall. 'He's a really good kisser,' I thought 'and he's smells so good. Not to mention he's got the abs of a statue of a Greek god.' Which, of course, brought me back to my original statement:

Screw it.


	20. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Can you say awkward? I can. AWKWARD! See? Now I ask you this question in the hopes that you may know how I felt as I was walking, quite drunkenly, back to the Gryffindor Tower with Mr. And Ms. Can't-keep-our-hands-off-one-another-for-five-minutes. You may know them as one Sirius won't-tell-me-his-middle-name Black and one Anabell Elizabeth Rebecca Burns. Talk about your mouthfuls.

At random intervals on the way back they would stop walking, snog, realize that I was falling over or walking the wrong direction, and catch back up to keep me from doing something stupid. An example of stupid would be my idea to go swimming in the completely frozen over fountain in the courtyard, something that, thankfully, the two dissuaded me from pursuing.

"Here we are." Becca said as she reached the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Nightingale." the portrait hole swung open and the three of us climbed through. Well, they climbed through, I sort of began climbing, but fell halfway and nearly landed on top of Becca.

"Oopsies." I said. Oh yeah, am I grown up or what?

"Why don't you go on to bed Siri, I'll take Rebs here up to bed and probably go to sleep as well."

"Babbling bumbling band of baboons. You know -hic- Professor Mc-G said that after -hic- class the other day?" What? I babble like a loon when I'm drunk.

"Um... Maybe I should make you take her up there, she's starting to scare me."

"Hey, she's your friend."

"Hey, she's your friend too."

"True... However she's your best friend, and a girl. Plus I already tried sneaking up those stairs on several occasions implementing several spells and I still can't get past that damn slide..." Sirius looked all frustrated. He's hot when he looks frustrated. Actually, he's hot all the time.

"You're hot." I said. Yeah... It's true that he's hot, of course, but I hadn't actually wanted the fact that I'd noticed known to the entirety of the Gryffindor commons. Wait... It's only two in the morning, no one's in the commons right now... Oh well. It's not like I fancy him anyways, I mean, I have a boyfriend and all, and I defiantly like him a lot. He's so sweet and kind and sexy in that spicy Latino kind of way.

And then there's always...

NO! Bad Rebby! Bad! No scamming on another girls man. Not going to happen. Besides, he has no clue that I like him and I'm pretty sure I'd like to keep it that way, seeing as it's extremely unlikely that he likes me as well. Especially considering how deeply and utterly entranced he is by her.

"I think I'll take her up now... Before she says something else she doesn't mean."

"Hey! What are you saying? I'm not hot?"

Becca got an evasive mischievous look on her face. "Maybe." she shrugged and hefted one of my arms around her shoulder. "Come on little miss missy drunk person."

"You realize that made no sense?"

"You realize I don't care?" Becca countered. "Night hot-stuff."

"HAH! So you admit it! You admit that I'm hot!"

"I'm sorry? What? What did you say? I couldn't hear you, what?" Becca pretended to be deaf and started walking me up the stairs.

"Good night." Sirius said as we reached the balcony at the top of the first flight of stairs. Becca turned back to say 'Good night' as well, but Sirius apparently wasn't finished talking. "I love you." he added.

Dear lord, the world is ending. Sirius Black just said the words 'I love you' to someone and, I believe, actually meant it. Now, either the world really is ending, or Sirius is being possessed by a ghost. Or he hit his head really hard on something earlier and has since lost his commitment phobia.

Sirius looked surprised, like he had no idea why the words had come out of his mouth to begin with, but sincere as well. He seemed to be undergoing some sort of internal struggle then the look on his face became a decidedly happy one. Becca was pale as a ghost, trembling slightly, her palms were all sweaty, and she seemed to be mimicking a deer in headlights. Or maybe she _was_ a deer in headlights, no way to be sure.

"Um... Er... You too." Becca said weakly "Night." She ran up the rest of the stairs, dragging poor drunken me along with her.

"Uh... Yeah, gotta go." Sirius took off in the other direction as we passed out of sight in the stairs.

Huh. Interesting. Apparently there's an issue there.

When we reached the dorm I immediately went to the restroom to throw up. Yum. Note the sarcasm when I say that. Then, after brushing my teeth rigorously, I changed my clothes, putting on my pajamas and wandered back into the dorm room. Becca was laying back in her bed, clothes changed, talking to herself about something.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid... Why? I mean really? Why? I don't get it. Bet it's a joke, bet he's playing me and tomorrow he's going to break up with me. I mean never has he done anything like that, really. Why would he? And me. So stupid! 'you too.' I'm such a dolt. A stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid dolt."

"True, but I don't think mental masochism is the answer." I said climbing onto her bed with her and giving her a hug. She definitely needed a hug. Twenty or thirty hugs. My mind was a lot clearer now, some of the alcohol had worked it's way out of my system and the puking had cleared my stomach, meaning that I was hungry, a fact proved by a loud rumble that sounded from it at that instant. Becca laughed slightly.

"Trust you to be hungry at a time like this." she said.

"Actually, you're the one who's always hungry at odd times. I just threw up, my stomach is empty, I have good reason to be hungry. Now shut up and summon me some turkey woman."

"Yes, because I am your slave girl." Becca rolled her eyes and waved her wand. In third year we discovered that Hogwarts had house elves, something that should have been obvious to begin with. We had made friends with one house elf in particular named Zoë and he had said that if we ever needed anything to just ring. Then she had showed us how to 'just ring'.

"Misses Burns and Miller! Zoë is so glad to be seeing you again misses!"

"It's good to see you as well Zo, how many times have we told you to call us Rebby and Becca?"

"Many, many times miss Burns."

"And how many times more must I request that you call us Rebby and Becca?"

"Only once miss Becca."

We had this conversation with her every time we saw her. She just kept insisting on being all formal and stuff.

"Would you mind getting us a couple of turkey sandwiches?"

"It would be my pleasure young misses."

"Wheat bread, lettuce, tomato, Colby cheese, mayo and pickles."

"I'll have the same, but light on the mayo and no pickles please."

Zoë snapped her fingers and the sandwiches appeared before us and landed safely on a couple of plates. "Something to drink misses?"

"Some hot chocolate would be lovely Zoë." I said politely. Something about house elves makes me want to be all nice and proper and have manners. Ewww, manners...

Zoë snapped her fingers and a pitcher of hot chocolate and two mugs appeared. "Here you are misses."

"Thanks Zo. Did you have a nice summer?"

"Yes miss Becca, it was very fun, we cleaned out the entire first second third and fourth floors."

"Um, sounds like fun to me." I said. Well, not really, but house elves seem to actually enjoy cleaning things. "Remember, anytime you need anything, come to us, as long as it doesn't involve a mop. I don't get along with mops."

"Or vacuum cleaners."

"It tried to eat my pants!" I replied. Becca rolled her eyes at me.

"Thanks again Zo, we don't want to keep you from you're duties, we know you're a busy girl. Good night."

"Good night Zoë and thanks for the food!" I said.

"Good night Miss Becca and Miss Rebby!" Zoë disappeared from our room with a snap of her fingers.

"Wish I could do that. Just snap my fingers and disappear. That would be so cool." Becca said. Hmmm...

"No getting off topic. Now, what's the deal?" we settled on her bed, leaning back against the back board and pillows and getting settled.

"I haven't an inkling what you mean."

"I'm talking about the verbal beating you just gave yourself. I'm also talking about the way you just brushed off a confession of love, from Sirius Black of all people, like it was a slight annoyance." I took a bite of the sandwich. Man did Zoë know how to make a sandwich. De-lic-ous.

"I haven't the fuzziest."

"Stop avoiding me Becs."

"I'm not avoiding you, I honestly do not know. Well, the self beating was about the weird behavior, so really, I do know that bit, but the other bit is the bit that that bit is reliant upon, and that bit is completely unknown to the one person it should be known to, being me the one who doesn't know at all."

"You're being confusing and you're ranting. You're worried aren't you?"

"Well, yes, I suppose. I mean. What if he didn't really mean it? What if he was just joking? Pulling my leg, so to speak? What then? I mean, I have this horrid feeling that it would all lead to him breaking up with me and I just couldn't handle that right now."

"Hmm... And if he did mean it?"

Becca sighed and put her now empty plate on her bedside table where it sat for a moment, then disappeared. "I don't know. I mean, I like him, I really do. I like him a lot. I don't want to break up with him and I don't want to hurt him, but I just don't know if I love him or not. I can't help but think that if I admit that I do, I'll either be fooling myself or inviting pain to house itself in my heart."

"Very poetic. By this you mean?"

"He always breaks up with them, all of them, always. He breaks their hearts, breaks his promises, breaks their confidence and breaks off their relationship. But he hasn't yet. That scares me. I'm afraid that I'm going to admit that I love him, to myself or to him, and that he's going to do what he does to all the others to me, only five times worse. The other option is that he really does love me, and I say I love him, but don't and end up breaking his heart. I couldn't stand thinking that I had done anything to him like he has done to half the student population."

"A quarter really, remember you have to discount men and most if not all Slytherines. And first years. That would just be weird and wrong on so many levels."

"I just don't know what to do. He just sort of said 'it' and I don't know if I should actually say 'it' back to him or if he even really meant 'it'."

"I think he did, mean it that is. Something a bout the way he said it. He was just as surprised as you were that the words came out of his mouth, and he did start laughing or anything, he smiled, quite contently may I add, and waited for you to respond. When you brushed him off her seemed really hurt and uncertain, something completely unheard of for Sirius Black."

"Not unheard of, just not the most commonly acknowledged side of him." she sighed sadly. "I don't want to add to the hurt in his life, but I... I'm not ready for this kind of relationship. I can't handle the 'L' word, not yet."

"You sound like you have commitment issues."

"Maybe I do. I'm just not ready for this kind of thing yet."

"What are you going to do about it?" please don't say it. Please oh please don't say what I think you're going to.

"I think... I think I need to break up with him..." Becca said speculatively.

I didn't say what I was thinking. I didn't tell her I thought she was insane for breaking up with him, but I thought it. As her best friend and sister in everything but blood, it's not my place to judge her decisions, just help her work through them. "Are you sure that's what you really want?" I asked.

"I don't know what I really want, but I don't want that kind of relationship yet. I don't need it. I don't need him." Right. Like that was true? Not to be corny but he completes her, or she completes him. It's yin and yang, put two perfect, yet completely different, halves together and let them mix and a little of each will rub off on the other. Not my place to point this out though. I'll leave that to Lily, she's the common sense one, she's the one who's job it is to smack Becca and I around when we're being senseless idiots.

"Okay..." I said reluctantly. We sipped our hot chocolate for a while. I had to agree with her on one thing, I wasn't ready for that kid of relationship either. It is a big commitment after all. But then, I'm not the one who is completely utterly blindly happy when I'm around my boyfriend, or even just thinking about him. I mean, Max is nice and all, but definitely not my 'Prince Charming', and I see no 'happily ever after' looming on that horizon. Not that everything should be that perfect, but there should be some semblance shouldn't there? Now I could imagine that happening for some people I know. Lily, Remus, and James were some of those people that things like that actually happened too. Not me. Depressing thought.

Becca was staring at me suspiciously. "What's wrong with you now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have one of those looks on your face, the depressed look of a woman who wants what she can't have. Plus you were sighing. A lot. You sighed sadly at least eight times in ten minutes."

"Oh."

"Spill. Who is he and who is he dating?"

"Damn mind reader."

"WHO?" she urged. She was getting all excited now. At least someone takes joy in my pain. And at least now she wasn't all depressed and focused on her and Sirius.

"I haven't a clue what you are talking about."

"Now you have to tell me!"

"No, I don't, seeing as there's nothing to tell."

"Tell me! Come on! You know you want to! It helps to share, remember? Come on! Tell me, tell me, tell, me!"

"You're acting like a hyper puppy."

"I know, and I'm just as gosh durn persistent and annoying as one too. NOW TELL ME!" she insisted.

"FINE! JUST SHUDDUP!"

Becca settled down and sat quietly with bated breath.

"I have a small, tiny, itty bitty little crush on someone." I made a gesture with my fingers demonstrating exactly how small the crush was. "Highly insignificant, completely un worth mentioning really."

"_Really?_" she said.

"Yes, _really._" I replied.

"And the issue is that he's dating someone else?"

"Yes."

"You see a break up in their foreseeable in their immediate future?"

"No."

"You want me to make a break up foreseeable in their immediate future?"

"NO! Of course not. They are both friends and I wouldn't do that to them."

"You wouldn't be, I would."

"They're friends of yours as well."

"Hmm..."

"What? Why are you 'hmm'-ing?"

"I think I know who you're talking about..."

"Really? Who do you think it is?"

"I think you have a big whopping crush on a guy, and that he is attached to one of our friends, and that you are denying the major ness of the crush to preserve the friendships, and that the guy who you are pining for day and night is-"

"Has anyone here seen Lily?" Mikki burst into the room. "I left the party after her and she isn't downstairs and I needed to ask her something about someone."

"Um... Private moment. You. Interrupting." Becca said.

"Really? Did she leave with anyone?" I asked.

"I don't know, I didn't see her leave, I was talking with some friends from Ravenclaw. But I know she left and I thought she would be back by now."

"What's going on?" Win asked, walking up behind Mikki.

"Lily is half drunk and missing." I said. "Who saw her last?"

"I walked Makenzie back to her dorm just now. We left Lily and James sitting on the couch together. I think they were getting ready to come back as well."

"That's not good. James had a bit to drink a well. I hope they aren't in trouble or passed out in a hall somewhere. That would be bad." Mikki said.

"Really? You think?" Becca said sarcastically. "Let's go find them." She hopped off the bed, chugged the last of her hot chocolate, put on her robe and bounced out of the room and down to the commons. Everyone else followed, me putting on my robe as we descended the stairs. "Yo! Rach, Remus, snog-fest is over. We're on a man hunt. Lily's disappeared. Remus, could you go and check and see if James is upstairs for us?"

"Sure thing." Remus said, reluctantly getting off the couch and walking up to the boys dorm. He came back a few minutes later and said "He's not up here, I'll help look for them."

"Is Sirius and Peter coming?"

"Sirius is a little, erm, indisposed right now, and Peter isn't up there. Let me just grab my cloak and I'll be right down, okay?" Remus disappeared again. He remained disappeared for another ten minutes, and when he came back it was with a worried look on his face.

"All right, let's go!" Becca lead the pack of us outside of the commons and separated us into groups. "Remus and Rach, you go the back way back to the party and see if you see them on the way. If you don't check filches office and MacGonagall's, I think she's the teacher patrolling tonight. Win, Mikki, you check the first through fourth floors between here and the party. Rebby and I will check the fourth, fifth and sixth and some other random places. Ready? Break!" This apparently meant 'scatter to the wind and don't come back till you find one or both of them.'

Becca and I looked around, checking the fifth and sixth floors first, the heading to the seventh floor. We didn't find them, or any trace of them anywhere. We ran into a couple of ghosts on the way who said they hadn't seen the pair of them since the game, and Filches cat Mrs. Norris once, managing to escape her by Becca's quick thinking of 'if you throw a wad of paper, she will chase it' a plan which, while I had my doubts about it, succeeded. We were now working our ways through the seventh floor.

"So, after this we check the great hall, the kitchens, the lake, and the astronomy tower." Becca said.

"Why would they be there?"

"I don't know, but with James you never know do you?"

"Good point."

That's when we heard a scuffling noise coming from a door a little ways down the corridor. We were only three halls down from the party, and odds were good it was just some drunken couple trying to snog in a broom closet.

"Wonder who's in there?" Becca said.

"Probably some kids from the party."

"You don't think it's Lily and James do you?"

"No, I have very little faith in that option. It's probably some random kids we barely know."

"Hmm... Never hurts to check." she said, opening the door before I had the chance to stop her. I mean really? What business is it of ours if some kids are snogging in a closet? She opened the door to reveal

"Remus? Rach? What are you guys doing here?" I asked.

"We got, er, distracted from our search. We were walking down the hall you see, and we decided to look in the broom closet, then the door closed and we couldn't get it open, then-"

"Remus, stop rambling, you're a horrible liar. Just, you and Rach go check the Astronomy Tower and the Great Hall. We'll meet you back at the commons." Becca said, stopping Remus mid tirade. He really was a horrible liar. Or at least, he was just now. I'm pretty sure he can lie like a champ when he runs into a teacher in the middle of the night with Sirius, James and Peter, but just now, he was the worst liar I have ever seen.

"That was kind of awkward." I said. "Lets keep going I guess..."

We continued searching and when we turned the next corner we heard scuffling noises and a couple of soft thumps coming from another door a few feet ahead. The two of us walked up to it.

"So, you feel like opening this door as well? Cause I'm pretty sure Remus and Rach aren't in this one." I said rolling my eyes.

"Yup!" Becca said, pulling the door open, yet again, before I could stop her. Honestly! Does she have some strange fascination with catching people snogging in broom closets? Wait, scratch that, rug closets. Rug closet? Since when does Hogwarts have rug closets? Becca and I dodged a couple of rugs that fell out of the door as we opened it.

"Um..." Becca said. I looked more closely at the closet and my jaw dropped. Holy crap. These feelings were shared by Becca who said "Holy shit."

James was holding Lily with an arm around her back and another holding them up against a wall of rugs. Lily had her arms around James's neck and was snogging his face off. Damn. Not what I was expecting to find. Holy effing shit.

"Shit. Fuck. Damn. Hell." Becca said. Apparently she was extremely surprised as well.

"I'll say." I agreed.

James seemed to come to his senses and looked over at us grinning sheepishly. He seemed slightly embarrassed to have just been caught snogging Lily by her best friends. Lily either didn't notice, or didn't care. She pulled his face back to hers and kissed him some more.

"Well, then. This is awkward." I said.

"Yeah." Agreed Becca "Let's, um, let them be..." She tried to close the door, got it caught on a rug, banished the rug, and closed the door swiftly. The two of us leaned against the wall just outside of the rug closet and slid down it to sit on the floor. "So... Not lost then huh?"

"Nope. Not lost. Not passed out either."

"Possibly on crack though."

"No, that's just Lily. James is perfectly sane."

"Maybe he slipped her something earlier."

"Could be. I don't think he would though."

"Maybe the world really is ending. Is there anything in the Bible about 'when enemies snog and men who can't hold onto women say I love you, the world id about to go up in a fire-y cataclysm'?" Becca asked with a still slightly stunned expression on her face.

"No, but then I don't know a lot about that kind of thing."

"Huh..."

"Hmmm..."

We sat silently for a few minutes. Then the door opened and Lily peeked her head out with a confused look on her face. She looked down at us and popped back inside. Then she opened the door again and looked out once more at us. "Oops." she said, as if that summed the entire thing up. 'Oops.' Yikes.

"Yeah, oops isn't making a lot of sense for me. You want to expand on that?" Becca asked, with a slightly amused look on her face now.

"Er... No?" she said nervously. She walked out of the closet, followed by James who looked really nervous and worried, and yet happy.

"You! What did you do to her?" Becca rounded on James.

"Me?! I didn't do anything to her. _She_ threw _me_ into the closet. And _she_ started kissing _me_ first."

"You lie! She would never-!"

"Er..."

"Lily? Something you'd like to share with the group?" I asked.

"Um... James smells good?" she said sheepishly.

"Hm..."

"Mmmmm... He does smell good." Becca was now sniffing James who was looking at her like she was insane.

"Becca... BECCA! Stop sniffing the poor boy... Man... Man-boy. Stop sniffing the poor man-boy, would you? You're freaking him out."

"Oh, sorry." Becca stopped sniffing James.

"It's okay." James replied, ruffling his hair with his hand.

"So." I said.

"So." agreed Lily.

"So..." Said James.

"So... Are you two getting married now or what? Because if you are we need to get started looking for decorations and stuff." Becca said, smirking at the two of them. They were unusually close to one another and both looked like they'd rather be in the rug closet snogging still.

"Hell no!" Lily said a little too quickly.

"NO!" James said, just after Lily.

"Uh-huh..." Becca eyed them suspiciously "Dating? Boy friend and girlfriend? Snog buddies? What? Come on, we need some information here. I mean, I just found my best friend snogging the guy she swore she'd never snog in a closet full of rugs. A little information would be nice."

"Er... Professor MacGonagall was coming down the hall and I saw it on the map and I shoved us in the closet but then I couldn't reach my wand and the rugs fell and I gave in." Lily rambled.

"Ah, I see." I said. I kind of did. At least, what she said made some sense, just not all.

"Relationship status?" Becca demanded.

"Er..." James looked at Lily. He was just itching to ask Lily the same thing, I just know it.

"Still just friends. I think. Maybe. You know what, I'm going to go back in the closet now. You're coming with me." she grabbed James's hand and dragged him inside the closet. "And you two are going to stay there for a moment." She closed the door behind her.

"Yup."

"Yeah."

"So... Standing the hallway while they snog... Yeah, still awkward..."

"Uh-huh." I agreed.

The door opened again a few minutes later. James was extremely happy, Lily looked a tad annoyed, but otherwise happy as well.

"So?" Becca asked.

"So-"Lily began, but was cut off by James, who was practically bouncing in place.

"We're going on a date!" he said smiling from ear to ear.

"Lily?" I gave her a questioning glance.

"I figure, screw it, it's not like one date will hurt anything. I might hurt you if you tell anyone though." she said, looking at James.

"Huh?" he asked.

"No need for the entire school to know you've finally managed to get me on a date. Tell Sirius if you like, Remus maybe, but if they so much as let a peep of a peep of a squiggle of this out, I'm killing them my self with my bare hands."

"You're a little scary." I said.

Lily didn't respond though; she was too busy watching James and Becca hop around like a bunny rabbits in excitement singing "Lily's going out with Ja-ames! Lily's going out with Ja-ames!" in a little sing song voices.

"Good for us, now would you stop? Someone might hear you. Plus I'm tired. Let's go back to the commons."

"Yes ma'am!" James saluted her then began following her down the hall. Becca and I followed as well. When we had caught up, James scooped Lily up and began carrying her down the hall.

"Awww! How cute!" Becca exclaimed. She then turned to me and attempted to scoop me up like James had, but fell down in the process. "Sorry lover, I'm not as strong as I thought I was." We helped each other up and continued down the hall, James laughing at us and Lily looking more annoyed by the minute.

"Put me down already. I can walk on my own!" she said.

"True, but a princess such as you should not have to walk on her own."

"Put me down before someone sees!"

"It's three in the morning, no one is going to see."

"But... but..." Lily seemed to be out of steam. "Fine!" she huffed.

The rest of the way back to the commons we talked about their date. We asked where they were going to go and when and all that. They had no clue, but apparently James had a few good ideas that he had been working on for a couple of years. When We reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, James let Lily down so she could climb through the portrait hole, then followed her through, as did Becca and I.

We gave everyone else a quick explanation about how the two had hidden from MacGonagall and gotten locked in a closet because the door knob didn't work on the inside and how Becca and I heard them yelling through the door to let them out. This story seemed to go over well enough and everyone drifted off to bed to get a good nights sleep.

Everyone except for Lily that is. She woke up at 5 a.m. screaming.

I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock; 4:57 a.m. Yuck. I was having trouble sleeping. I woke up at some point after having a weird dream about, well, about _him_ and about Lord Voldemort torturing him and I woke up slightly startled. It wasn't a fun experience. I calmed down fairly easily, realizing and dismissing it as a bad dream immediately, but when I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, I couldn't. My mind wouldn't let me. I rolled around for at least a half hour attempting to get back to sleep, but in the end realized, as I looked at my bedside clock, that this task was going to be nearly impossible to accomplish.

Then, of course, the rest of the girls dorm had the same basic problem I did; they were all awakened by a nightmare. Of course, they weren't the ones having the nightmare, Lily was.

First she was simply mumbling in her sleep again. Over and over, the same thing, the exact words muffled by the heavy curtains around her bed. Then the screaming began. She shot bolt upright, her curtains flying back, seemingly, of their own accord. The pitcher of water burst, as did the glasses next to it, the full length mirror on the wall cracked, the windows shattered.

That was one hell of a scream.

"Lily! LILY! _LILY!_" I had jumped out of bed and was now shaking her, trying to get her to wake up. It wasn't working so I grabbed my wand and shot water out of it at her, hitting her directly in the face, but it didn't even faze her. She kept screaming at an unnatural pitch. I slapped her in the face, but that didn't work either. As a last ditch attempt I used a silencing spell on her to make her screams soundless. Becca, Win, Rach, and Mikki were all out of bed and standing around Lily's bed now, giving her the same shocked and worried look as I was. The spell wore off after only seconds and her screams were audible again. "LILY! WAKE UP LILY! WAKE THE BLOODY HELL UP!" I shook her a couple more times, but it still wasn't working.

Then, quite suddenly, she stopped, closed her unseeing eyes, opened them again, and looked over at me and the girls. "Oh, my." she said plainly. Then she fainted sideways onto the floor, her landing softened by the blankets that had flown off of her when she had begun screaming.

"Holy shit." Becca said. She seemed to be saying that a lot recently, and I seemed to be agreeing with her on those points a lot recently.

"Becca, go get the boys, we need to take her to the hospital wing, she's burning up!" I said, touching my hand to Lily's forehead. She had a major fever and she was sweating like a pig. Becca shot out of the room like an arrow from a bow, out the door and down the stairs faster than a cheetah. "One of you go and get MacGonagall or Dumbledore or both." I said to the others. Rach and Mikki took off in search of the two Professors. "Win, get me a washcloth with cool water on it please." Win was gone to the bathroom and back before I even had a chance to reposition myself next to Lily's head. I took the cool damp cloth and wiped Lily's face with it, then folded it and placed it on her forehead. After a couple more minutes of silent worrying, James burst into the room, Becca, Sirius, and Remus hot on his heels.

"How is she?" James asked, the worry evident in his voice. He kneeled down beside her and, seeing how pale she was and the sweat breaking out on her forehead said "Not good then." and scooped her up in his arms. He took off out of the dorms without so much as another word.

I jumped up and followed him out the door and down the stairs, Becca, Sirius, Remus, and Win followed as well. The group headed straight to the hospital wing, James in the lead, practically running. Tears were streaking down my face. 'Not good. Not good, not good, not good.' I thought to myself 'Her fever is really high. This is not good.'

As though sensing my thoughts James actually broke into a light jog, Becca and I right along side him. When we reached the hospital wing I held the door for James as he carried her in and Becca ran to the office at the end of the room and banged on the door "MADAME POMFRY! Get your healing butt down here! We got a seriously sick kid down here, damn it!"

A few seconds later Madame Pomfry appeared at the door to her office and opened her mouth to berate Becca for her use of language and such, when she saw Lily in James's arms and instead rushed to her, telling James to put her on one of the beds.

"What happened to her?" Madame Pomfry asked, a low orange lit came from her wand as she pulled it back and forth over Lily's body. "No serious injuries..."

"She was sleeping. She had a nightmare, a really bad one by the sound of it. She started muttering in her sleep then sat up in bed and started screaming. Her eyes were wide open, but she couldn't see anything, she was still asleep, and I tried to get her to wake up, but it didn't work. Everything was breaking, the mirrors, the windows, the glasses. Her bed curtains were nearly ripped off of her bed and her covers were...And then she just stopped, woke up, turned to me and said 'oh, my' of all things, and fainted to the floor. I felt her forehead and she had this horrible fever and she was sweating all over and so pale..." I let my trail off. I was shaking and I hadn't even realized it. I collapsed backwards, Remus catching me before I hit the ground. He picked me up and put me in a chair, kneeling down in front of me. "Are you alright? You're not sick too are you?"

"No, no I'm fine, just a little shell shocked is all." I replied.

"Are you sure?" he asked. He seem genuinely worried.

"Yes. I'll be fine."

"Lily has a fever of 107 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm going to give her a potion to bring it down." Madame Pomfry walked briskly to her office to retrieve the potion. When she came back she administered the potion, forcing Lily to swallow it. She waited a minute, then checked Lily's temperature again. "Hmm... 106, it's going down, the potion is working. I'm going to give her this dreamless sleep potion so she can get some rest, that should help her fight off whatever it is that's giving her the fever."

Everyone sighed with relief. Her fever was going down, she would be okay. "Oh thank God!" I exclaimed, hugging the first person I saw, in this case, Remus. He seemed slightly surprised at first, then hugged me back gently.

"It's okay, she's fine, she's going to be okay." Remus whispered to me reassuringly. I knew she would be okay, but it seemed more real when someone else said it. I buried my face in his shoulder and cried my freaking eyes out.

"What's going on here?" Professor MacGonagall stormed into the hospital wing, Mikki right behind her. "What is the matter with Miss Evans?"

"I'm not sure Minerva, the girl had a high fever, which is going down now thankfully. I haven't a clue what caused it though."

"I'm sure you'll discover the cause Poppy. Miss Evans is doing better now then?" Dumbledore walked into the hospital wing briskly, heading straight to Lily's bed. Rach was with him and walked over to stand by Lily's bed as well. She looked over at me crying my eyes out in Remus's shoulder and acquired a strange look.

"Yes, she seems to be responding well to the potions I gave her. Hopefully after some rest the fever will subside and the rest of her symptoms with it."

"You have it all in hand then?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, then if you and Professor MacGonagall would accompany me into the hall for a moment?" The three adults walked from the room into the hall.

Everyone looked very relieved that Lily was going to be okay. Becca, who was standing between Sirius and I, looked down and squeaked loudly.

"What the-?" Sirius said, looking over at her and trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Er, nothing..." Becca had dodged to the other side of Remus and I, and I could now see why she had squeaked. All she had worn to bed was an overly large t-shirt that barely reached her upper thigh and exposed a bit too much of her. In her haste to get the guys and get to the hospital wing with Lily, she had completely forgotten to grab her robe. Wait a second... I looked down at my own clothing. Oops. I pulled away from Remus, and hid on the other side of him as well.

"Um... Any particular reason I'm being used as a human shield?" he asked, slightly confused.

"Er... Well, you see, we were in such a rush to get Lily here we completely forgot to grab our robes."

"Um, so?" Sirius asked raising an eyebrow.

"So we're not exactly decent, okay?" Becca said irritatedly. She was right of course, where she was wearing the big t-shirt I was wearing a thin tank top and boxer shorts, not exactly appropriate attire.

"Um, what do you mean not de- OW! What did you do that for Prongs?!"

"You're an imbecile. Shut up."

"Damn you get tetchy when Lily's sick." James glared daggers at Sirius, which was when Sirius decided to have his brain flash and realize what we were saying. "OH! You're not properly clothed, okay... Here!"

Something warm black and fuzzy landed on Becca's head. It was Sirius's cloak. "Thanks." Becca said, putting it on.

Remus stepped forward a little and untied his cloak as well, handing it to me. "Here, it's not much but it's better than running around the castle in tiny shorts."

"A-hem... Been checking out my clothing have you?" I teased. Well someone had to relieve some of the tension in here, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I took the cloak from him and put it on.

"I-I, er, no, of course not, I just sort of noticed, er... er..." Remus stammered, blushing bright red.

"Calm down silly goose, I was just teasing."

Madame Pomfry came back into the room and announced that a few of us could stay, but that the rest had to go back down to the dorms and could come back up later to check on her. "Professor Dumbledore specifically mentioned Rebby, Becca, and James. They rest of you can fight it out over who else gets to stay. I'm going to be in my office if anything happens or if any of you need me." she waited long enough to make sure that Mikki, Win and Rach had started towards the door, then turned and walked back to her office, closing the door behind her. Rach paused at the door and looked back at Remus. "Aren't you coming?"

"No, Lily and I are better friends than we seem. I'm going to stay for a bit." he smiled at her sadly and she smiled back with a look of understanding and something else. Then she turned and left the hospital wing.

"What about you Sirius? Are you going to stay or go?" Becca asked.

"Stay of course. She's your best friend and James's new girl friend. She may not get along with me very well, but that doesn't mean I can't be good moral support." Sirius said solemnly.

"Thanks." Becca said sadly. Crap. She wanted to break up with him and he was being really nice. Not exactly the best timing.

James hadn't moved from the spot he was in since he had put Lily on the bed. He stood there, face etched with worry, and didn't say a single thing. He didn't move either, and at one point I could have sworn he'd stopped breathing. Remus and Sirius found us all some chairs and forced James to sit in his.

At some point we all rifted off to sleep in our chairs. Even James nodded off, his head resting on Lily's bedside, her hand clutched tightly in his own. When we woke up it was light out, probably around 10 a.m., and I was missing potions class.

Well, not really potions class, because it was a Sunday, but my potions tutoring from Professor Caulder who had decided I needed extra help. I'm really not very good at potions. I always get my mincing and my dicing mixed up. I'm also not very good at cooking, I tend to burn things. A lot.

"It's about time one of you four woke up." I looked up at Lily's bed to see her sitting up, resting against a bunch of pillows and reading a book.

"LILY! YOU LIVE!" I yelled.

"Shhhhh! They're still sleeping!" Lily hushed me. I looked around and noticed that everyone was sleeping in their chairs.

"Oops, sorry. Where'd that book come from?"

"Madame Pomfry gave it to me after I told her I wanted to be a healer. She said to look for my symptoms and see if I could figure out what's wrong with me. So far all I've got is either a random over night fever or the flue. Except it hasn't lasted long enough to be the flue, so I'm going with the random overnight fever, most likely caused by extreme stress and physical strain."

"Well I didn't think we got that physical last night, but if you say so." James said from his position in his chair. His eyes were still closed and his head was still resting on the side of Lily's bed, so at first I thought he was talking in his sleep.

"Not funny James." Lily glared at him.

"Come on, just a little funny? Not even the teensiest, tiniest bit?"

"Nope." James looked crestfallen. "But I'll let you keep holding my hand if you go get me a glass of water." James perked up and, hopping from his chair like an over eager puppy, poured Lily a glass of water and handed it to her. Then he reclaimed his position in the chair by her bed and held her hand again. "Thanks." she said, drinking the water.

"A little thirsty?" I asked her.

"Just a lot. I think I sweated out half my weight in water last night. I've been parched for hours, but I didn't want to bother any of you, seeing as, according to Madame Pomfry, you stayed up nearly all night with me. And she would know as she did stay up all night, it is her job after all. She went to get some rest when I woke up and my fever was gone."

"Hmm..." Becca said, waking up as well. She opened her eyes lazily, stood, walked out of the hospital wing to the restroom, walked back in a couple minutes later and got a glass of water, which she drank all of before reaching her chair again and curling up in it yet again. "LILY!" her eyes shot back open as she realized that Lily was awake and sitting up in bed. "YOU LIIIIIVVVEEEEEE!" Becca took it upon herself to glomp Lily right then and there.

"That's what Rebby said." Lily choked out from Becca's tight grasp.

"Yeah, but she won't live for long if you don't let her go. You're restricting her breathing you nincompoop."

"Oh, sorry, right." Becca released Lily and sat back down in her chair. "How long have you been up?"

"About and hour."

"Huh... Oh! I just remembered something!" Becca got all excited and looked over at me excitedly.

"Er..." was all I said. I literally had no clue what she was all excited about.

"Audvoidio!" Becca caste the spell that made people go temporarily deaf on James. "Stupify!" Then she stunned him and James slumped in his chair. "Now, where was I? Oh yes! I know something you don't know!" Becca was practically bouncing in her chair.

"Er... What?" asked Lily. Apparently I already knew it, whatever 'it' is.

"Rebby has a crush on-" he looked all around to make sure no one else in the room was awake "REMUS!"

Um... Whoa now, wait, hold up, that's not right...

"Er... No I don't." I said.

"Yes you do! You said so last night!"

"I never said 'Remus'! I said I had a crush on a guy who is dating a friend! Not that I had a crush on a guy that is dating a friend and his name is Remus!" I replied defensively.

"Er... Oh... Well then, I'll pick up where I left off last night... WHO IS IT?" Becca asked throwing herself at my feet and doing a good job of pretending to kiss my feet and beg.

"Oh, just tell her already! I mean, I've known for ages who you like, and that Max guy is creeping me out. He keeps leering at you in class, it's disgusting." Lily said making a motion known to most of the world to mean 'makes me sick'.

"What do you mean you've known? I never told you, I've never told anyone!"

"I'm not blind, I figured it out." Lily rolled her eyes.

"TELL MEEEEE!" Becca begged rather loudly.

"FINE! But not right now... Later... Right now I'd rather talk about you and your 'issue'." I said pointedly. If she was going to break up with Sirius then she might as well get Lily's opinion on the matter first, she tended to come up with points on the matter of boys that neither of us thought about. That's why she's the 'voice of reason' in our little trio.

"Er... No."

"Anabell Elizabeth Rebecca Burns! You tell me right now or I'll have you 'taken out' by a trained assassin."

"Um..." was all I could come up with to say to that.

"Hey! That's my line!" Becca said indignantly.

"Grrrr..." Lily growled at Becca. Literally growled. But it wasn't like a dog growl, it was more of a cat growl. Weird.

"Fine! So, SiriustoldmehelovesmelastnightandIdon'tknowwhattodobecauseI'mnotreadyforthe'L'wordyetandIdon'twanttohurthimbutIthinkIneedtobreakupwithhimandit'sallgoingtotearmeapartandIjustdon'tknowwhattodobutIdecidedlastnightthatIwouldbreakupwithhimsothat'swhatI'mgoingtodo." Becca said all in one breath. She said it so fast that all of her words sort of melted together.

"Try again." Lily said "This time slower, calmer, and with actually breathing."

"Last night Sirius told me he loved me and I don't know what to do because I'm not ready for the 'L' word yet. I don't want to hurt him, but I think I need to break up with him and it's going to tear me apart. I just don't know what to do and I decided last night to break up with him, and that's what I'm going to do." Becca said again, this time slower and with breathing.

"Well, if you don't love him, why stay with him? I say dump the loser and we can all stop hanging out with him and his lot of hooligans." Lily said. Dang that was brutal. I could have sworn she'd be on Sirius's side too. Even though he doesn't even know he has a side that needs backing.

"Well, I mean, it's not that I don't love him, it's that I don't know if I do love him. And they aren't just a bunch of hooligans! And Sirius isn't a loser!" Becca replied, starting out normal, then becoming more and more defensive. "And if you feel that way then maybe we shouldn't be friends!"

Lily, who I was sure would look angry or sad, instead smiled at Becca knowingly and said "Well now, there's your answer to question number one."

Becca looked stunned. She flopped back into her chair. "Oh."

"You just need to calm down and do what your heart tells you."

"That was corny."

"Yes, well, you get the meaning don't you? Good. Now undo my date for this weekend so I can remind him that he's a loser and a hooligan like Sirius is."

"Okay." Becca waved her wand and said the counter curses, causing James to come back to consciousness and be able to hear again.

"Er... What just happened?" James asked, looking from Becca's stunned expression, to my relieved one, to Lily's amused one.

"Nothing, just knocking some sense into one friend and trying to knock the truth out of the other."

"Oh, okay... That makes sense."

"She also referred to you and Sirius as Losers and hooligans." I added.

"Oh, er, thanks?" James replied. Poor guy, so conflicted. I could almost see the little scale in his brain bobbing back and forth: Lily, pride, Lily, pride, Lily, pride, Lily... Etc.

"What's going on here? You guys having a party without me?" Sirius said, getting out of his chair and stretching, a large yawn engulfing his face. "Nice to see you're up and around Lily."

"Yes, well, nice to see you care Sirius." Really, it's not that Lily doesn't like Sirius, it's that she has an issue for his general disregard for the rules and his lack of respect for her and her office of Prefect.

"Nice to know that you care that I care." Sirius said back. He doesn't not like Lily either, he just has an issue with her having an issue with his general disregard for the rules and his lack of respect for Prefects... And I think he's a bit jealous that she monopolizes so much of James's time without even trying, without even wanting James to be paying so much attention to her. You know, best-friend-itis. You'd think he'd have gotten over it by now wouldn't you? Guess not...

Remus woke up soon after this and the six of us joked around for a while until Madame Pomfry came bustling in and checked Lily's temperature once more, then, after declaring her perfectly healthy, bustled us out of the hospital wing. We meandered back to the Gryffindor commons to change clothes and then ended up going down to the Great Hall for some food. Lots of food.

"It's a nice day out." Lily said when we reached the Great Hall. "We should go for a picnic."

We gathered up some food in a basket that Sirius conjured and headed down to the 'Marauder tree' as it was known by anyone in 5th year or younger. Some how by hanging out under the tree all the time, the Marauders had made it off limits to anyone in a grade lower than them, and quite a few in the grade above as well. It was like, 'oh, the Marauders hang out under that tree! We are unworthy! Unworthy I say! Unworthy of hanging out in t he same spot as their godly good looks and mischievous antics and humor have been more than once! Swoon!'

Whatever. It's just a bloody tree.

We reached the tree and set out the food on a huge blanket that Lily conjured and began to dig in.

"Is this a private party or can anyone join?" Mikki appeared at the picnic just behind James and Lily, straight across from where I was, holding the hand of a boy. A six foot tall, brown ear length messy haired, sparkling blue eyed, tan skinned boy who, among other things, was her boyfriend and Becca's younger brother. His name is Caleb, and he is hot. I mean smoking hot. The guy sizzles I the rain for god's sake. Right... Off topic. Caleb, while quite athletically inclined (and how could he not be with all of those muscles?), was more into muggle sports than quidditch, the only well known wizard sport. He skateboarded, snowboarded, played street basketball, and, like his sister, swam like he was a freaking dolphin. By this I mean he's really good at swimming and can hold his breath for a long time. A really long time. Like 3 minutes. Maybe 4 on a good day. Mikki had managed to somehow trick him into dating her sometime last month. I don't mean that she couldn't get a guy or anything, it's just Caleb for the longest time refused to have anything to do with Becca's friends because he thought we were all weird insane psychotic lesbians. Not that he has issues with lesbians, he just got a little confused about how close we all were and are. The insanity bit he had right though.

"Sure, have a seat." Lily said, indicating a large vacant void between Sirius and Becca. Hmmm... Wonder why that's there? I rolled my eyes at the two of them; what idiots.

Caleb in all his godliness sat down, as did Mikki, and fixed themselves some sandwiches as well. We all ate our food and washed it down with water and pumpkin juice. We were joined just after we finished our food by Rach and Win who had been out wandering about when they realized we were under the tree and came to sit with us.

"Hey hun." Rach said, leaning down and giving Remus a kiss on the cheek. He blushed and quickly shoved the last of his sandwich in his mouth, which was really too much to eat all at one time, and choked. So much for hiding your embarrassment.

"So... You're okay then Lils?" Rach asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just a random fever, probably brought on by stress and physical and mental exhaustion. I have been studying a bit more than usual recently, we have a few tests coming up after all."

"Um, they aren't for another month now, and you know everything, so you don't need to study to begin with." Becca said, munching on some left over chips. "You're like God, you know everything."

"Um... No, no I don't."

"Well, you're pretty damn near close." Said James smiling. "See, you're God's right hand man, Remus is God. He knows all. He sees all. He surmises all."

"Do you even know what surmise means?" Lily asked him, smirking.

"No, not really, but I like the sound of it." he smiled back sweetly.

"It means to make a guess about something." she explained.

"Well then, I surmise that I could kick everyone's but in a game of 'duck, duck, goose'!" James said suddenly, jumping to his feet. He began walking around the picnic blanket tapping people on the head. "Duck, duck, duck, duck, g-duck, duck, d-GOOSE!" James took off around the circle, Becca hot on his heels. He made it to her spot just before she managed to catch him.

"Damn. I was so close too."

"You guys are weird." Caleb said. Even his voice is hot. It's all deep and masculine. He's more mature than James and Sirius, the oldest guys in our grade, and he's a year younger than them. How does that work? Who knows and who cares so long as it does.

"Yes, we know that, thank you." Becca replied.

"We're not actually that weird, just random. We tend to come up with our own ways of amusing ourselves instead of choosing to bore ourselves with the conventional methods."

"Example?" Caleb prompted giving me a strange look.

"We prefer to play whatever game pops into our head that's unusual, like 'duck, duck, goose' for example, instead of something everybody plays all the time, like wizards chess or exploding snap."

"Hmm... I think you're all just weird." He said again, wrinkling his forehead as if in concentration. "Yep, definitely just weird."

"Babbling bumbling band of baboons." Becca piped up.

"Er..." was all Caleb could come up with.

"Oh, no, it's back!" Lily exclaimed, laughing slightly. We had been talking non stop about Professors MacGonagall's random outburst after class on Friday. She had just stood up from her desk, thrown her arms in the air and yelled 'Babbling bumbling band of baboons!' then sat back down and started writing something. Now, every time anyone said anything about being weird or random, one of us would say that and we would all crack up laughing. Which, of course, we did when Lily said it. All except Caleb who blinked a few times.

"Yep, you're all insane too. Now I remember why I avoided you for so long."

"But you just love me and my friends so much that you just couldn't resist coming back now could you?" Becca asked him, smiling widely.

"Um, no." Caleb replied. "I got tricked into a date, then dragged down here by Mikki."

"Really?" I asked, like I didn't know that already. I had been one of the first to know, I have good contacts in the Hogwarts underground gossip ring.

"Yes, really. She stopped me in the hall right in front of all of my guy friends and a few other kids in our class and asked me out. What was I supposed to say? No? I'd never live down turning down a date with a pretty girl."

"Thanks for the pity date." Mikki rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly on the arm.

"Anytime." Caleb smiled at her and then stretched and laid back on the soft grass. "So, this is what you guys down here under this tree huh? Just sit and eat and talk?"

"Yeah, this is pretty much it." Remus replied.

"Occasionally we go swimming or climb the tree or pull little pranks on one another, but this is usually it." James added.

"No plotting of world domination? No wild and crazy parties? No scheming to overthrow the king of England and the Minister of Magic so you can rule Britain?" Caleb asked.

"Well, yeah we do that stuff too, but we try to keep that low key." Sirius winked at him.

"Oh, I see." Caleb laughed. He has a really nice laugh too, it's deep, like his voice, but it has a slight lift to it at the end that makes it kind and happy.

The, let me count now, ten of us sat and talked for a while, occasionally playing odd games and making jokes at Caleb's expense since he was the newcomer to the group. Eventually we decided to head back up to the castle, dropping the picnic dishes off in the Great Hall as we passed it. We were all headed up to the Gryffindor Tower when Mikki suddenly smacked herself in the forehead. "Crap! We have to finish that project for charms!" Mikki exclaimed.

"Oh crap!" said Rach.

"To the library!" yelled Win leading their charge to the Library to finish their project for tomorrows class.

The rest of us continued up to the commons. I was ignoring the conversation, contemplating Sirius and Becca's 'situation' when I forgot to skip a step and my leg sank through the stairs. "AGH!" I yelled in surprise.

"I got ya!" Caleb exclaimed, grabbing me under my armpits and pulling me back up to my feet. Gosh is he strong. And quick on his feet too.

"Thanks." I said, smiling at him.

"Er... Yeah, no problem, um, I just forgot I have a thing I need to do, in a place, er, yeah, right... Uh... Bye!" He took off like a bat out of hell, rounding the corner at the end of the hall before we had even finished climbing the rest of the stairs.

"That was odd." Said Becca. "And he calls us weird." She shook her head.

Lily raised an eyebrow at Caleb's actions and muttered "Interesting."

"What was that Lils?" Becca asked.

"Oh, nothing." Lily replied, looking over at me with a knowing smile. What the crap?

Before we reached the portrait of the Fat Lady Remus, who had been in the lead of the group, stopped suddenly making Sirius, James and Lily all ram into his back. "Oh! I nearly forgot! Everyone into this old dusty unused classroom so I can tell you something." That was kind of random.

We all filed in and Remus shut the door behind us and then addressed the group, focusing mainly on Becca and I. "So, I've been pondering this for a while, about a month now, and have decided that I think I can trust you all with a secret." He paused, looking at James, then Sirius, then Lily who all gave him encouraging nods. Then he looked from me to Becca a couple of times. "I'm a werewolf, and they're animagi." he pointed at James and Sirius.

"Haha, very funny Remus. Can we get back now? I had this book I wanted to finish reading and-"

"I'm not kidding Rebby. I'm a werewolf."

"You mean like, fuzzy, furry, fluffy, fanged and fabulous? Not to mention the claws, paws and oversized jaw?" Becca said.

"Uh, yeah."

"The once a month presto-chango into a furry critter of evil desires to rip peoples throats out and eat them?"

Remus sighed "Yes."

"And the howling to the moon and such?"

"Yes."

"Huh, cool, too bad I already knew that." she said.

"You did?" I asked, looking at her incredulously. This was all a complete shocker for me. It was like a slap in the face. I mean, you think you know a guy, then BAM! He's a werewolf and you know nothing about him.

"What?!" Said everyone else in unison about a millisecond after I had said my bit. "When did you find out?" asked Lily.

"Forget that, _how _did you find out?" asked Remus.

"I was curious where you dolts were off to every night on the full moon, so I put a disillusionment charm on my self and watched you leave one night. You started talking about a 'furry little problem' and 'that time of the month' referring to Remus, then one of you said something about a transformation. I put 2 and 2 and 2 together and got 6. This was the last full moon during school last year."

"And you didn't bother to tell your two best friends because?" I asked.

"Well it was obviously a secret, and definitely not mine to tell, so I let it be." She seemed utterly un-phased by the entire idea of it.

"Did you know about us as well?" James asked.

"No, now that bit is a surprise. I didn't know you were animagi. I figured you were just going to were ever it is he goes during the full moon and hanging out outside his door to keep him company, I didn't know you were out gallivanting around in animal form with him. Bloody dangerous idea if you ask me."

"My thoughts on the idea exactly." agreed Remus "But by the time I figured out that they were becoming animagus it was too late to convince them not to. They're a determined bunch it seems, stupid and addicted to danger with slight hero complexes, but determined."

"Gee, thanks Remus, we'll be your loyal friends anytime." James rolled his eyes.

"So... The point of this was to tell us your secret?" asked Becca. She seemed completely at ease with the situation. I was a little freaked out. I mean, this is a lot to dump on a girl.

"The point was to tell you two and then to ask and see if you wanted to become animagus as well. Lily discovered me on the train on the way to school, and we offered to teach her to become an animagus. She said only if you two could as well, something about you being smarter than you looked, and I decided that I might as well tell you everything if I were to tell you that they are animagus. Peter too, wherever the little rodent is..." Remus looked about, as if just then realizing that he hadn't seen Peter all day. None of us had for that matter. I could swear he was up to something sneaky, but then, when isn't a Marauder up to something sneaky?

"Sounds cool to me, I'm in." Becca said. "Just, don't expect me to be gung-ho on the whole 'dancing with werewolves' thing."

"Huh? Who said anything about dancing?" Sirius asked.

"Never mind, muggle reference." she said.

"And you Rebby?" Remus asked, looking at me questioningly.

"Um... Uh... So you're a...? And they're...? And you both knew?" I paused a moment, then said "Damn I'm out of the loop!" Becca rolled her eyes at me. "I'm in!" I said excitedly. Remus looked relieved, as did Sirius and James. Lily smiled confidently, and Becca commenced our secret handshake, which had a lot of weird moves and intricate hand clap things too it.

"Er... Right then." Remus said after we had finished our handshake, looking at us as though we had grown another head each. "So, you know you can't tell anyone any of this right? It's a complete and utter secret, not even most of the teachers know. Just Dumbledore, MacGonagall, and Madame Pomfry. And the only students who know are in this room, excluding Peter."

"Got it." I nodded my head in understanding.

"_Comprende_, everything's under lock and key. _Bueno_." Becca said.

"You really need to stop speaking in Spanish, it's confusing." I said.

"Yes, well, you'll get used to it. At least I'm not speaking in Russian or Bosnian or German, then you'd have no clue whatsoever as to what I was saying. There aren't a lot of Russian, German, or Bosnian cognitives you know. At least with Spanish some of it makes sense to you."

"True, there is that." I agreed.

"What's a cognitive?" asked Sirius.

"And where is Bosnia located on a map compared to England?" asked James.

"Oh, never mind." Becca said, rolling her eyes at them. "Shall we?"

The six of us left the dusty old classroom and walked the rest of the way to the commons. We hung out by the fireplace for the rest of the afternoon, Lily disappearing at one point and coming back with a load of books, which James made hover twenty feet in the air until Lily agreed to sit in his lap. He was slowly getting the better of her when it came to the 'keep the relationship secret' thing.

That night, Lily forced me to reveal who I liked to Becca. I was kind of reluctant to do so, really reluctant to do so, because I didn't know how she'd react. Of course, that's the chance one takes when coveting your best friends brother.

"Caleb? CALEB? You like Caleb?! What the crap is wrong with you? Are you mental?" was her response. Not as bad as I had thought it would be. I thought she might pull out the protective sister mode she keeps hidden so well under that layer of sisterly hatred.

"Because, he's hot, he's nice, he's talented, and he's hot."

"You said that once already." Lily pointed out, smirking at me.

"Yeah, well, it's true."

"Yeah, but he's also my brother, and you're like my sister, so it's like my brother is dating my sister and... eeeeeeewwwww..." Becca paused and made a gagging, disgusted face.

"Um, that's nice, I think of him more as the random kid that lives at your house occasionally in the summer and who I rarely see."

"He does spend more time at his friends house than at home in the summer, that's true, but he's still my _brother_... Eeewww... How can anyone find him attractive, he's my brother for Christ's sake."

"He also happens to be hot."

"You've already said that twice."

"Touché."

"So," Becca paused. "So, how long have you liked him?"

"Since pretty much forever, I like to keep it hidden underneath several layers of disdain and annoyance. Except when I'm around him recently, then the crush tends to float to the surface and I act like a complete idiot around him."

"I noticed that, thought you just had a bit of the fire whiskey still in your system from last night."

"Um, no."

"Huh..."

"So... On to Becca's problems!" I changed the subject as swiftly as possible. The less we concentrated on my crush the more we could concentrate on telling Becca that she's daft for breaking up with Sirius. If she still plans on it, which was my point in bringing it up. "What did you decide?" I asked her. What? I like to get straight to the point.

"I... I decided... I decided to not decide. I mean, I guess you're right, he doesn't deserve to just be dumped out of the blue for saying he loves me, but I still have my reservations... I dunno... I'm just... I'm too indecisive I guess, so I'm just going to let it be and see how it goes from here."

"I can understand that." I nodded my head in agreement with her decision.

"Good. Now go get out your wallet and pay me, woman, relationship therapy is expensive these days!" Lily said, laughing at the confused look on Becca's face.

"But... I never hired you... You offer your services and mentioned nothing of payment..."

"Always read the fine print! How many times have I told you? always read the fine print! Otherwise they could be saying that every other Friday you have to dress up as a giant chicken and try to fly off of skyscrapers and you'd never know."

"A wonderful example Lily, speaking from experience I take it?"

"No... Not really..."

"Uh, right." I said. "So... Bed. Goodnight!" I jumped into my bed and pulled the covers over my head.

"Um... That was sudden..." Becca said.

"Well, not really, I mean, she has plenty to look forward to while asleep." Lily wiggled her eyebrows at Becca.

"Oh, I see how it is, you'd rather dream about your widdle crushy-pooh than talk with us huh?"

"NO!" I said, sitting straight up, throwing the covers off in the process.

"Uh-huh, right. Well, don't go to bed just yet, I was about to bring up the most interesting topic all night, it even trumps you being in love with my brother." Becca shuddered. "Ew..."

"I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH HIM!" was my response to this. I wish I hadn't yelled quite so much though, it made it seem like I actually did like him and was trying to hide it.

"Riiiiigggghht. Just keep on telling yourself that Rebs." Becca rolled her eyes. "So! Lily, your turn to be put on the spot! What exactly was your nightmare about? I mean, it had you pretty worked up, and you've been having a lot of weird nightmares recently. What's with that?"

"Well... I have no clue what the deal is with having so many, but I do remember what happens in them. Almost every time. Most of the time their the same thing too. At first it stars out normal. I'm dancing with a cute guy or playing quidditch or reading or something, but then it gets all weird. At some point I start to fall, and I keep falling until I hit water. It's a big deep pool of water, like in a lake or a big pond or something. The water is black, and I can't see anything but the surface and the moon above me. I'm treading water, and I start to try to swim to the shore, but I can't reach it and I start to sink. I end up drowning at the end." Lily tapered off.

"Wow... Creepy..." Becca said.

"But, last night's dream was different. It was just as real feeling, like a not so distant memory. Like, when you think about something that you just did the day before. Clear, but fuzzy... Anyways, last night the dream pattern was completely different. At first I was sitting on a couch. It was brown leather, very soft, and comfortable. I realized I was holding something in my arms. I looked down and realized it was a baby. A little boy with jet black hair and bright green eyes. My eyes. He was smiling happily and started to giggle. Then I looked around and noticed I was in a living room, but not one I had ever been in before. A man asked me something from another room, and I yelled back an answer. There was a knock on the door and I heard the man yell to stay put, that he would get it; but I got up anyways. I carried the baby with me into the hall. At one end there was a kitchen and a stairwell leading upwards. Along the walls were dozens of picture frames with happy people smiling and laughing. One of the people in the picture closest was me. There was a man with me, but I couldn't see his face in the dream. I couldn't focus on it. Then I heard a door click open, and I looked down at the other end of the hall. A tall man with jet black hair like the baby's was opening the door. I could only see his back. I started to walk towards him, but then he slammed the door shut and caste a locking spell on it. He yelled for me to run. Then everything went black. I heard a scream. A woman was screaming, really loudly. She just kept screaming and screaming and screaming. Then I realized I was screaming too. Next thing I knew I was in the hospital wing with five people snoring their heads off around me and James pinning my arm to the bed." She finished, looking around at us. "It was really creepy. When the man yelled for me to run, I had such an overwhelming feeling of being scared. I little started shaking, in the dream that is. I wasn't afraid for myself though, was scared for the baby and the man. I just wish I could have seen the man's face. It really bothers me that I don't know who it was..."

"You know... There's a movie idea in there somewhere... A book maybe..." Becca pointed out.

I raised an eyebrow at her as if to say 'perhaps a little delicacy?' "Well, at least you know it was just a dream. I mean, things in dreams don't come true usually, do they?"

"No... I suppose not..."

"They do for some people." Becca said.

"Becca! Not now!" I hissed at her. Great, the baboon was going to make Lily feel worse.

"Well, they do! And really, she should know." Becca turned and looked directly at Lily. "They do sometimes..." Becca pointed out. "Muggles call it Precognitive Dreams or Dena Vu Dreams. Of course, they believe it's trick of the mind, a memory created by their mind during a dream and remembered later on. Of course, wizards have explanations for them too. We call them premonitions, and we call the people who have them, who truly have the sight, Seers. Now, the question is, do you _really_ have the sight? Or do you just have flashes that come true?"

"Well, I... I don't know... I mean, I've had dreams that have come true before, but nothing major... Just, a meeting with someone, the way I'm greeted by someone... It clicks back to the memory of the dream... I always just thought it was coincidence."

"That's what muggles think too." Becca said.

"I thought that Seers saw things when they were awake by going into a trance-like state. Or in crystal balls or tea leaves or tarot cards or something?" Lily asked.

"Well, usually... You see, Seers 'see' in different ways, it's specific to the particular Seer. Most 'see' through visions. The visions can be brought on by touching certain things, something someone says, or maybe even just the presence of a certain person. Others 'see' through the use of things like crystal balls and tarot cards. Not everyone who can see through those things can see through visions, and the same is vice versa." Becca paused.

"How do you know all of this?" Lily asked. I was curious about that myself.

"My grandmother used to have visions. Never anything big, things like when a baby would be born, who was going to visit the next day. Silly little things." Becca smiled sadly to herself. She really had been close with her grandmother and grandfather. They had both died, supposedly of heart attacks. Probably they had actually been killed by the killing curse though, linking them to Voldemort and his Death Eaters. She didn't talk about that though, she tried not to even talk about her grandparents most of the time.

"So what about the dreams?" Lily asked, breaking the sad silence.

"The dreams! They're the most interesting part. You see, a Seer is rare enough, but a Seer who 'sees' through dreams is even rarer. There's usually only one of them every hundred years or so on record. Probably more out there that ignore their gift and scratch it off as a strange intuition or something." Becca was really excited now, she was using her hands to illustrate things as she talked. "Now, a Seer who 'sees' through dreams usually has the ability to 'see' through visions and other methods as well. They can utilize tarot cards and crystal balls easily, as well as tea leaves and other methods such as those, but having the visions is harder, and extremely difficult to initiate."

"So... If I am having precognitive dreams, then I'm a really powerful Seer?"

"Yes, very likely."

"But there's no way to prove it, is there?" I asked.

"Actually, there is." Becca smiled mischievously.

"I'm afraid to ask..." Lily said, looking at Becca suspiciously.

"Well, then don't ask, because I'm not going to tell you. I'm going to kidnap you tomorrow at some point and drag you off to undergo my 'Test of Seerness'. And you shall have no choice in the matter." Becca smiled evilly.

"Uh-oh..." I said.

We joked about it for awhile, about how Becca was going to kidnap Lily and toss her off the Astronomy Tower or feed her to the giant squid or something, then The other girls came in and we all went to bed. Lily's sleep was peaceful that night, as far as I know.

Of course, in the great scheme of things, nobody knows very much, do they?


	21. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

So, really, why is it that I always end up with the weirdest things happening to me? No, really. I'm a witch who was brought up both the muggle and the wizarding way. I met my best friends by ramming them with my trolley in Kings Cross. My first date ended in a literal explosion. My family is, well, odd to say the least, by both muggle and wizarding standards. One of my best friends likes, probably loves my brother, and my other best friend might be a really powerful Seer.

I'm telling you, there is something going on with my life. It's got to have some crazy ending to it, just so that I can justify the crazy beginning. Honestly.

The next day after classes I grabbed Lily's hand and dragged her to Professor Trelawny, the new divination Professor. She hadn't been announced at the start of year feast because she hadn't been one of our Professor's yet. She had been hired at the end of September to cover for the old Divination Professor who was going to be away on maternity leave for the next few months. I am the only one in our little group of friends who takes divination, mainly because I wanted a class where I could goof off and do nothing in. I mean, don't get me wrong, I take it seriously, just not too seriously, especially with that giant beetle Professor Trelawny teaching class.

When we reached the top of the tower I climbed to the top of the sliver ladder and knocked on the door in the ceiling.

"Come in Becca." Professor Trelawny called. Yeah, she's a Seer all right, a genuine phony Seer. There's a whole in the floor behind her desk where she can see who is coming.

"Come on Lily." I dragged her up the ladder with me and when we had stood up and closed the door behind us, I turned to the bug eyed, bushy haired, extremely eccentric Professor Trelawny. "Professor, I was just wondering if Lily and I could use a deck of your tarot cards, or maybe one of your crystal balls. Perhaps some tea would be nice as well. I'm trying to get her to believe that divination really is a real subject by making her try it herself."

"Of course dear, I already have a pot of hot water boiling in anticipation of your arrival." she swept over to a cabinet and brought three cups and saucers over to a table by the window. The tea pot whistled and began floating over to the table, pouring hot water on top of the tea leaves in the cups. "Now, dears, would you like me to read your tea leaves?"

"No, no, I want Lily to try it. She's a bit of a skeptic, but I think that if she tried, she might be good at reading the tea leaves and such." Becca said, winking at Lily.

"I see... Well, I've got a copy of the book here if you would like to refer to it." she handed Lily a copy of 'Decoding the Future' by Phillis Phuturis; our text book from third year. It held beginner information only, the simplest of deciphering for the images found in the tea leaves, the crystal ball, and all manner of other fortune telling devices. "I must go and tend to some teacher related matters that are about to occur in the teachers lounge. Feel free to help yourself to anything you need, but do try and put away what you get out." imagine that. Teacher related matters occurring in the teacher lounge? Who'd a thunk it?

We watched Trelawny descend the silver ladder into the great unknown. That is, into the hallway below. When she had disappeared, the door closed behind her, Lily turned to me and said "Okay, what's going on?"

"Remember when I said there was one way to tell if you truly had what Trelawny refers to as 'the gift'? Well, this is it. You're going to look at my tea leaves and decipher what they mean, then your going to write it down in this notebook. You're not going to tell me what it is that you think will happen, because that might influence my decisions in some way. After we do the tea leaves we're going to do the same with the crystal ball, the tarot cards, and a palm reading. I'll do yours all first of course to give you an idea of how it works."

"Hmm... I guess..." Lily looked apprehensive, but that was to be expected with her coming from a muggle family. Predictions and divinations were considered 'poppy-cock' by muggles usually, and not many wizards hold a lot of stock in it either these days.

We finished our tea and I took her cup from her, stirring three times counter clock-wise, twice clockwise, then letting the leaves settle. "A dark cloud... a funny looking deer... a big dog... A flower... Another dog... Maybe a wolf... There's a strange little squiggle in there... A ripple of sorts... Hmmm..." I surveyed the mug a bit longer. "a dagger... Pointed at the animals... There's something else there as well..." I leaned in closer to the cup, but it slipped in my hand, falling to the floor and shattering. "oops... That's bad."

"Not to worry. Repairo." Lily flicked her wand at the glass and it repaired it's self and sprang back onto the table.

"No, not that." I said, waving away her comment. "I was talking about the things I saw. Curious... You see, the animals all have different meanings; the dog can be loyalty, protection, guidance; the wolf is independence, loyalty, success, perseverance, stability, intuition; the stag is pride, independence, purification. The flower looked like a lily, the lily usually represents wealth, pride, maiden charms, purity, happiness, and majesty. The dagger most commonly represents fighting and trickery, and by trickery I mean betrayal of sorts. The dark cloud is foreboding, something bad on the horizon as it were. The ripples, they're a disruption, a distraction or an interruption from the norm. Now when I put this all together, it's a little confusing. I think the animals and the flower represent people, they're kind of gathered together. The lily is probably you, since not only is it your name, but if I interpret the meaning to be 'maiden charms' then it could be speaking of your ability to charm men, or your ability in Charms." Lily gave an apprehensive snort at the 'ability to charm men' bit. "well, you have James wrapped around your little finger and you didn't do anything to make him come to you, he just did. You have several other admirers too, they're just not as public as he is."

"I do not."

"Do too. I'll point them out to you at dinner later." I gave her a wink. "Now, the animals I'm not so sure about, we'll figure them out eventually I suppose. The dark clouds I think mean that something bad is going to happen soon to the people, a bit morbid really. Of course, it could just mean you're going to get a bad grade on a test, or that you're going to trip and fall flat on your face, or it could mean something worse, no way to tell really. Then there's the dagger, that added to the dark cloud I think could mean that the bad thing that is going to happen will have to do with betrayal of some sort. I think the people being betrayed will be the people who are represented by the animals, as well as the flower, or you. The person betraying them, well, I don't know who that is, I dropped the cup before I could see what animal it was exactly, but it had whiskers and a long tail." I finished, looking frustrated at the now empty and repaired tea cup on the table.

"Interesting... A little depressing, but interesting... Now it's my turn to read yours... This could take a bit, I'll have to look up the meanings and such..." Lily took my cup and stirred it the same way I had. Then she surveyed the cup, writing down things every now and then, occasionally screwing up her face in concentration. When she was finished she began searching through the book Trelawny had given us and writing down things here and there. "Okay, finished." she declared after a good twenty minutes.

"Dang, you're thorough. Now let's move onto the crystal." I pulled a round clear ball made of pure quartz from a shelf and settled it in one of the brackets then placed it on the table. "Now what you do is you gaze into it and see what you can see in it. A lot of times this is the hardest tool to get results from because either it shows you something or it doesn't, sometimes it just gets all foggy and stays that way, other times it'll get foggy, then images will appear in the fog, and occasionally the fog clears in certain areas allowing the Diviner to see a blatant image. Let me try it first. I see..." I paused for a moment. The crystal clouded over, the fake mist inside of it swirling and turning, revealing nothing, and then... "a bird... An eagle I think... Flying around a small room... Landing on some antlers... Huh... And a wolf... And there's a big black thing there too in the shadows... And a little brown rat too... Ew, rats gross me out... And let's see... A girl with red hair... She's changing... Transforming... Into a... Of darn, I've lost it!" I rarely get anything out of crystal balls, so I wasn't too surprised when my 'spiritual connection' with it was lost and the fog dissipated into nothingness. "Well... That was an odd one... The girl looked a bit like Rebby though... And she was transforming... Maybe it had something to do with her animagi form?" I've never been very good with crystal balls, they just don't like me or something. "Now it's your turn."

Lily did much the same as she had done with the tea leaves, only it took less time and involved less note taking. When she was finished I pulled out a deck of tarot cards. "Now, we're not going to do these just yet, they're a little more complicated. I'll dig out my basic notes on which cards mean what and give them to you later. Reading the tarot cards tends to take a bit more knowledge of the cards before the reading can be precise, so once you memorize what each card means in general, and the more common combination meaning, you can have a go at them."

"Alright then." Lily said, standing from her chair and waving her wand at the teacups. They sprang into action, cleaning themselves and jumping onto their shelf along with their corresponding saucers. I placed the container of tea leaves in it's rightful spot and gently moved the crystal and it's bracket to it's place on a shelf. "Now, shall we head to dinner?"

We took a short cut to dinner, arriving a few minutes late and sitting with the usual suspects, the marauders and the girls from our dorm. A few asked where we had been, I kicked Lily in the shin as she said we had been in Trelawny's room and finished her sentence with an explanation that I had needed a bit of help with one of her assignments. I didn't want anyone knowing what we had been up to, it might change the way they acted and change something that Lily had predicted in the little notebook I had given her. I gave her a pointed look when she glared at me for kicking her shin and she got the picture.

I took the time to do as I had told her I would earlier and point out at least 10 guys who fancied her. This all appeared to be a shock to her and Rebby and I laughed as she looked at us with wide eyes and high eyebrows, he mouth slightly agape. James found it quite annoying that we were pointing out all of her other boyfriend options and grumbled at us for a while. Remus rolled his eyes at least twenty times and Sirius just sort of laughed the entire time about how completely blind Lily was when it came to guys.

Sirius. Yeah... No opinion on that subject as of yet. I'm giving him some time to see how things work out now that he's claimed his love for me. I know the fact that I haven't said it back is bothering him, every time he looks at me he starts out smiling happily, then the happiness changes and he's smiling happily with sad eyes. If that makes any sense at all, which it probably doesn't. I just kept pretending I didn't see it, pretending to be completely ignorant to any of it. After a good forty-five minutes of this happening he seemed to get overly annoyed by it and, with a heavy sigh and a confused and irritated look in my direction, stood up and walked off, claiming to have homework to do. Yeah right, like Sirius _ever_ does any homework?

I got up to go and talk to him. I suppose I should clear the air, tell him what's going on with me. I mean, I have been acting oddly towards him recently and I guess he deserves to know why. I walked in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower, taking the long way in an effort to delay talking to him a little bit longer.

I was completely lost in thought while walking. Thinking about everything that was going on in my life, all the weirdness and the coolness and the annoyingness and the funness. Yes, I _do_ enjoy adding 'ness' to the end of words, get over it.

In the middle of my contemplation of the possible dating of Rebby and Caleb, a thought that fits in the 'weirdness' column, I heard voices ahead of me in the hallway. A man and a woman. I couldn't see them because I was around the corner of one of the halls down from them a few feet and I didn't dare stick my head out to see who it was and what they were doing, but I could hear them. The woman seemed to be pressuring the man about something and the man was replying in an irritated voice.

"Come on, just one little kiss? She'll never find out and even if she does, it isn't as if you _really_ care about her, now is it?" the woman was saying.

"No, not right now, I'm busy. Besides, who're you to say I don't really like her? It's not like you're an expert on me or anything."

"Well, you see, that's where you're wrong. I know a lot about you. I know you're likes, your dislikes, your moods, and a lot more stuff. I have it all written down in my diary actually, you want to come and see it?"

Ah, a lovers quarrel. Interesting. Too bad I'm not the gossiping type. Well, I'll tell Lily and Rebby of course, they're my best friends, but they aren't the gossiping type either, so that doesn't count. If only I knew who it was.

"Listen, if you know me so well, then you know you're bothering me right now, come back when I actually care." the man said, then he said something else that I couldn't quite hear.

"Well, fine, but I know you like me. I can tell. You like me more than her too, the little witch. And I'll prove it to you."

"Yeah? And how exactly are you going to do that?" the man asked loudly.

Wait a second, I know that voice...

"Like this." the girl said. I looked around the corner just in time to see a slender girl with shoulder length thick black hair with red highlights reach up and kiss Sirius square on the mouth.

"Oh my god." I said before I could stop myself.

The two broke apart, Sirius looking startled and the girl looking way too pleased with herself. 'That little bitch. How could she... And she's a Gryffindor too!' I thought, noticing the emblem on her cloak. A blind rage stole over me and all of the common sense and Zen training from the summer left me. I walked straight up to her, my face set in killer glare mode. You know which glare I'm talking about; the one where you can burn holes in 4 inch sheets of steel. I stopped about half a foot from her, my glaring eyes locking with hers in a glaring competition of sorts, the winner of which got, well, I don't know, but it was a major victory if you won. After a couple minutes of glaring I decided I didn't want to just stare at her angrily, I wanted to really hurt her. I really, _really_ wanted to hurt her. This prompted me to pull back my right arm and let loose a slap that could have made a grown man cry. The girl fell back against the wall in shock and pain and by the time she had re-composed herself and managed to choke out the words "You bitch!" I was no longer angry, I was full on totally and completely pissed. Her words threw me right over the edge of sanity into the nice dark, deep abyss of _in_sanity. I dove at her, trying to hit, kick, scratch and in general pulverize every inch of her body. Sadly I was held back by a strong pair of arms.

"Becca! Stop! Don't!" Sirius yelled, while trying to subdue my flailing limbs and keep me from completely destroying the girl. "Becca! BECCA! STOP IT!" He roared. Then I accidentally swung an arm back and elbowed him in the face. My elbow connected with his nose, a loud _snap_ ensuing. Oops. Well, not really. Sirius let me go and grabbed his nose, which was now gushing blood.

Instead of running at the girl to pummel her, I turned to Sirius, my eyes filling with tears I didn't want to shed. "How could you? How could you just let her kiss you? And you didn't even try to push her away. And now you're protecting her from me? What's the matter with you? You said you loved me, I guess that was just a lie." No longer able to keep the tears from falling, I ran blindly down the hall taking the first short cut I could find. Vaguely, behind me, I heard Sirius yell out my name.

"Becca! Come back! Wait a minute!" but I didn't care. I ran and ran until I reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

She looked at me pityingly and asked "anything the matter dear?" I yelled the password at her and ran inside, not bothering to answer. I sprinted through the commons and up the stairs before anyone inside could realize who it was and that I was crying. When I entered my dorm I threw myself on my bed, pulled the curtains around it and shoved my face into my pillow.

I must have cried for at least a couple of hours straight before the door to the dorm opened and closed. The other girls, it sounded like Win, Rach and Mikki, walked in chattering happily. None of them heard me crying silently into my pillow and they left just as quickly as they entered.

After a while I drifted into sleep. My dreams were odd, filled with Sirius and myself doing things we'd never done. At first we were sitting on a beach in the tropics drinking frou-frou drinks. Then Sirius and I were walking around downtown Manhattan. Next the two of us were skiing in Utah. We went flying over the Great Pyramids of Egypt, walked the great wall, went hiking in New Zealand, went on walkabout in Australia, and climbed the steps of the Eiffel tower all the way to the top. The part of the dream I remembered most though when I woke up was not the trips to amazing places, places I'd always wanted to visit but never had the money or time to visit, but the scene I remembered most was the two of us snuggling together in front of the fireplace in a house I'd never scene before. That was the last thing I saw before I woke up, and when I came back to consciousness and realized that none of that could ever happen, I was heart broken all over again.

However, I am not the kind of girl who is paralyzed by anything less than true physical trauma, like a broken back or neck or whatever. Anything less than that and I'm back on my feet again in no time. That's the good thing about low expectations and self-esteem, you don't expect the perfect world so when the world ends, you're not disappointed. Don't get me wrong, the fact that S... The fact that _he_ had been more worried about her than me upset me. I just used my brain powers and all that Zen stuff from this summer to take all that negative energy, all my pain and sadness, and turn it into something more helpful, like anger.

I was now furious at _him_ for what he had done. Of course, I didn't let it show, that would make it too easy on him. When old girlfriends get mad and angry it means they still care, and I didn't want him to think I cared. Instead I kept the cork on my bottle anger and acted completely calm, cool and collected around him.

At breakfast the next morning I pretended nothing was wrong. I spoke normally with everyone. When Sirius arrived at the table and began to attempt an apology, I shut him down.

"Becca I'm really-"

I hold up a hand. "Stop. Save it. We're over, we're done with, we're moving on. The end."

"But Becca I-"

"I said, 'THE END'. That means the stories over. Now stop trying to apologize, eat your breakfast, and go to class. I'm going to do the same. We're not going to make a big scene out of this. _You're_ not going to make a big scene out of this. Just eat you're breakfast and move on." I kept my voice level, my face straight and serious, there was no possible way to read anything from me other than 'not interested' and possibly 'don't push it', both messages I wanted to send.

Sirius looked hurt and disappointed. James, Remus, and Peter who had actually shown up for once and stuck around for more than 3 seconds, looked at me with dropped jaws. Apparently Sirius has never been dumped before, go figure. Win, Mikki, and Rach all looked stunned as well, they hadn't even known there was an issue. Lily and Rebby looked confused at first, but then they both adopted equally worried expressions.

"Um, Becca... We need to talk." Lily said, then she and Rebby promptly stood of and dragged me from the Great Hall by my arms, leaving the stunned people behind t the Gryffindor table.

"What?" I asked tersely. I was annoyed at both the fact that they were obviously about to question my decision and that I was going to have to explain what happened. Te fact that Sirius was still alive and pain free didn't add too much to my good mood either.

"Exactly, what are you doing? I thought you were going to talk to Sirius about it and give him a chance to move a little slower? What the hell happened to that plan?" Rebby asked. She was really angry with me too. This is odd, since she tends to be the one who just nods and agrees with me when I'm angry, she knows when to shut up and stay out of my way.

"What am I doing? Wasn't I going to talk to him? Yes I was going to talk to him, I followed him out of the Great Hall with the intention of talking to him, and what do I happen upon but some chick confessing her love to him in the hall and snogging his face off and refering to me as 'that girl' and a bitch. I, of course, promptly broke up the love fest and focused my anger on her. After exchanging a few choice words with the little home wrecking slut I was ready to beat the stuffing out of her, and what does Sirius do? He protects her from me! He held me back! I thought he said he loved me! I thought he actually cared! But no! He didn't care, because if he had cared he would have been halfway to beating the stuffing out of her before I had even gotten the chance to move! HE DOESN'T CARE AND NOW NEITHER DO I!" it's safe to say that I had slowly worked myself into a bit of a temper. What had started out as a nice, calm, rational explanation had ended as me screaming my guts out about Sirius and his stupid... stupid... stupid stupid-ness!

"Becca, calm down. How do you know he didn't want to beat the crap out of her to begin with?" Lily asked.

"I just do!" I shouted. "I'm going to class." I stomped off, walking briskly into the Great Hall, grabbing my bag from the bench where Sirius looked up at me hopefully. I gave him a cold glare and the hurt confusion returned to his eyes. Good. He deserves to feel how I felt when he took up for that bimbo. I marched to my first class, blinding shoving past people and receiving angry yells for my actions. One poor first year made the unfortunate mistake of turning a corner the same time I did. We slammed into each other, the first year hit the floor, his book bag falling to the floor beside him, and I was forced to take a step back.

"Hey watch it lady!" he said to me, picking himself up from the ground and his book bag as well. At his full height he reached my shoulder on a good day.

"Why don't _you_ watch it kid? Try some manners on for size once in a while too, ya punk. I ought to beat the crap out of you, you know that?" I replied, anger seeping from my very pores.

"W-why? I didn't mean to be rude, you j-just came out of no where a-and I wasn't expecting y-you..." he trailed off and gulped in fear, realizing that not only was I much bigger than him and much older than him, I was also much angrier than him.

"Yeah, well, try _not_ being rude next time ya munchkin." I said, shoving past him and continuing around the corner and down the corridor, finally reaching the Defense class room. I threw my things on a desk at the front and threw myself into the seat, pulling out a book and shoving my nose in it before someone could ask me a question and get their eyes gouged out in response.

About ten minutes later people began to file into the class room, most staying as far away from me as possible, eyeing me warily and speaking in hushed tones behind their hands. I guess news travels fast. Of course, the fact that I had an angry aura that resembled an erupting volcano, they may have just sensed the fact that I was in a bad mood. Lily and Rebby walked in and pointedly sat on either side of me and began talking to one another, trying to force me into a conversation with them. I ignored them and continued to read my book. A few minutes later Win and Mikki came in followed shortly after by Rach and the Marauders. They all sat down in t heir usual seats orbiting the desk where Lily, Rebby and I were sitting, except for Sirius who made Peter trade seats with him so that he was sitting directly behind me. I was about to turn around and tell him quite politely to move his arse to another seat before I moved it for him when Professor Emling strode into the class room confidently and asked that we put away our parchments and books and take out our wands.

"Today I am going to show you the proper form for dueling. I want everyone to pair up with the person sitting behind them and come to the front of the room." Everyone did as she said. I took one look at Sirius and walked up to Professor Emling to request a change of partners.

"Please Professor, I'd rather not be the cause of serious injury in class today. I can't work with him without hurting him severely." I said. Apparently I either hadn't pleaded my case well enough, or Professor Emling has a grudge against Sirius too, because she simply said that it was about time some of the students learned to control their emotions and shook her head sadly, completely ignoring the confused expression on my face. She waved her wand and the desks piled up on the sides of the rooms and the floor was covered in mats.

"Becca, please we need to talk about this, you can't just walk out on our relationship because of something this stupid! It's all just a big misunderstanding!"

"I can and I already have. Live with it."

"But Becca I-"

"I don't want to hear it and if you want to leave this class alive you might want to shut your big mouth long enough for me to forget who it is I'm dueling today." I glared at him angrily. So much for the 'cool, calm, and collected' approach. Durn people just wouldn't stop badgering me now would they?

"Fine." Sirius sighed.

"Alright. Everyone pair off and stand to the side of the mats. I assume you all know the proper dueling form and everything, what you are going to do today in class is practice an actual duel. You are to treat your partner as a real opponent. You are only to hold back by keeping your curses and hexes light enough that they don't maim, kill, or otherwise severely injure your dueling partner. The only curses and hexes not allowed are the ones that are made to cause pain and torture, you know what they are." Professor Emling eyed us all respectively, lingering slightly on me. "Now, you are to spread out on the large area of mats and begin your dueling, one at a time I am going to call a your group over here to this mat to duel in front of me so that I can observe your form and make suggestions in your tactics." she gestured to a small stretch of mats right in front of us that were separate from the rest. "Well, what are you waiting for? An engraved invitation? Hop to it already!" She clapped her hands and everyone rushed to a place on the mats, spread out, faced off, and began dueling.

Now, i really did try my best to keep my temper in check, but every time i looked at his face i saw her and him kissing. Not so easy to keep one's temper while imagining your ex-boyfriend who you're still hung up on kissing another girl who just happens to be the reason you broke up.

Confused yet? I'm not, but that could be because by the time we were 3 hexes and one charm into the duel, the blind rage from the night before was back, blinding me from anything but the need to beat the crap out of Sirius. The good news is, since i had my wand in hand already, i wasn't moved to use my fists... Yet...

I dove to my right, rolling to my feet in one smooth movement, as Sirius's jelly-legs curse hit the wall behind me. As i stood, something inside me snapped like an over stretched rubber band. The anger that i had allowed to build up inside me poured out of the bag formerly held tight by that rubber band. I threw a stunner at Sirius, missing by a hair. The mat that i hit in his place was left with a small scorch mark in it.

"Merlin, Becca, I'd like to stay in one peice today, thanks." Sirius said.

"Then stop talking and start dueling." I growled throwing another stunner at him, this one stronger than the last.

Sirius ducked and the stunner went over his head, leaving a small bald spot in his formerly perfect hair. "Christ! Becca!" I threw another spell at him, this time a body binder. It missed his arm by a hair and hit the mat a centimeter from Remus's foot. "Rebecca! Stop! Please!"

"Be a man and make me you git." i growled at him.

"Damn, she's mad." I heard Rach say to Remus.

"Yeah, and my toes nearly paid for Sirius's mistake." Remus said, examining his foot to make sure he still had all of his toes in one piece.

"Rebecca! Don't make me use your full name!" Sirius threatened.

"I don't give a bloody hell about my full name!" I growled. I seem to do a lot of growling when I'm mad.

"Anabell Elizabeth Rebecca Burns! I'm warning you! Stop!" Sirius yelled to me. "Ahh!" Sirius yelped and fell to the ground. One of my stunners had finally hit him and he now had a nice quarter sized burn on his right thigh. The thought 'That felt good.' crossed my mind as i sent another stunner at him followed quickly by an 'impedamenta'.

The people around us had stopped dueling to watch me attempt to kill Sirius using non-lethal spells. He wasn't even fighting back now, he was just trying to run away from me, a task at which he was failing. Sirius isn't the 'cut and run' type normally. He doesn't do defense, he's an offense kind of guy. Which is why when he stopped trying to attack and started trying to run away, he got hit by two more of my curses on his back, one on his calf, two on his arm, and one more on his shoulder and inch from his neck.

"_Patrificus totalis!_" a spell shot past my head and bounced off the wall behind me. That didn't come from Sirius. That came from behind me. I whipped around to see who exactly had tried to petrify me.

"Rebby?" i gave her a questioning look.

"Calm down Becs, take a deep breath and calm down. Remember all that 'Zen' crap you've been talking about all year?" Rebby walked up to me, keep her eyes locked with mine. It was as if her gaze alone was keeping me from freaking out again and going after Sirius. Rebby was next to me now, leading me from the room. "Come on, let's go, off to the dorms. Lily's getting permission and explaining it to Professor Emling."

When we were halfway down the hall i stopped. A bone chilling, body racking shiver coursed through me. i squatted down to the floor, circling my legs with my arms and resting my head to my knees. Why had io done that? How could i have lost my temper so completely?

What the hell is wrong with me?


	22. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

"Shit." was the only thing I let myself say as I collapsed to my knees. Mentally I was saying 'thank god for Rebby.' In the places where Becca's spells had hit me large pieces of my clothing had burnt away and small burnt bits of flesh were exposed oozing a clear green liquid mixed with small amounts of blood. I stood back up and each of the places where she had hit me twinged in pain, ten times worse than when they had originally been created. I gasped and gritted my teeth, masking my pain with a look of angry determination.

"Sirius? Are you okay mate?" James was standing next to me, giving me a worried look.

"I guess that's what they mean by 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.' Merlin..." I winced again as I started walking towards the door of the class room. First I was going to the infirmary, then I was going to hunt Becca down and force her to listen to me. It wasn't like I wanted that tramp to kiss me. I didn't even want that tramp to be with in twenty feet of me.

"Remus, grab his bag for me will you?" James yelled to Remus over his shoulder.

Professor Emling walked over, attracted by the crowd. "What's going on over here people? You're supposed to be dueling, not chatting. I want to see everyone back in place in ten seconds or I'm going to start handing out deten-" she paused upon seeing me inching towards the door, large burn marks in my clothing "Sirius Black, what happened here?"

"Slight accident during our duel Professor. My wand slipped and the spell came out wrong. Becca's already off to the infirmary with Rebby and Lily. James and Remus here were just about to help me along." I limped heavily for good measure, favoring the leg with the burn in the calf and thigh.

"Alright, go ahead." Professor Emling waved us away with a flick of her hand. "Everyone else, back to dueling!"

James grabbed my arm and put it around his shoulder then helped me hobble out the door and down the hallway, Remus following close behind with my backpack. After we turned the corner James gave me back my arm and I walked on my own with a much smaller limp.

"What the hell just happened in there?" James asked.

Can James handle thing delicately or what? "Becca and I are kind of going through a rough patch."

"Um, I'm pretty sure her words at breakfast were 'we're over'." Remus said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well, that's cause she hasn't let me explain yet."

"Explain what?" asked James.

"Well, she kind of thinks that I was cheating on her. Or that I don't actually like her as much as I act like I do."

"Did you cheat on her?"

"NO! For once in my life, no, I didn't."

"Do you actually love her?" Remus asked.

"Who said love?" I gave him the suspicious glare.

"You did the other night in commons while I was kissing Rach in the commons."

"You were in there?"

"Psh, kissing? You were snogging her face off and you know it." James rolled his eyes.

"Thanks... Anyways, do you really love her?"

"Well, yeah." I said. Duh, obvious, wouldn't have said it if it wasn't true. "Of course I meant it, I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."

Remus and James both gave me a 'look'. "Really?" James asked.

"Well, I might have said it if I didn't mean it, but not this time, this time I really did mean it."

James sighed, "Well, that's something I thought I'd never hear."

Remus shook his head, "And how ironic that the one girl he does love breaks up with him."

"Thanks for reminding me Remus." I groaned. "Arg!" I bumped my leg against a rail and pain shot through it clear to my spine. "Next time I fall in love with a girl remind me to pick one with worse aim and less of a temper."

"Sure thing pad. Need some help there?"

"No, I'm fine. Let's just get to Madame Pomfry and get these damn burns heeled up before I start crying like a little baby, huh?" I tried to laugh it off, but I didn't even convince myself.

"Right." James gave his 'big brother taking care of stupid younger brother' look and helped me the rest of the way to the Infirmary. James and I aren't actually brothers by birth, but if I had to pick one person in the world who would fulfill the role of my brother best, it would be him. He's more of a brother to me than my real brother, the one I refuse to admit I'm related to unless circumstance requires it. James quite honestly saved me from becoming a pitiful depressed lump fighting fruitlessly against the pull of the dark side attempting to drag me into a pit of black despair.

Yeah, I've been hanging around Becca too long. All that poetic crap she always spouts out with the eight adjectives per noun, it rubs off on you after a while. Sad thing is, I kind of miss it and she broke up with me this morning.

How pathetic am I?

"You're not pathetic, you're love struck." Remus said.

"Did I say that out loud?" James and Remus both nodded their heads yes.

Great, now I'm girlfriend-less, pathetic, and I'm disconnected with reality. "To change topics slightly, how are you and Rach doing Moony?"

"Er... Fine. Why do you ask?" Remus blushed.

"Just curious. You seem to be getting along great, but for some reason I get this vibe from Rach that she thinks you like Rebby and is jealous."

"Really? A vibe huh?"

"Yup, a vibe."

"It sure is an oddly specific vibe."

"I have oddly specific vibes sometimes."

"Does this 'vibe' have a name."

"Lily."

"What? Lily? Where?" James jumped in.

"No, James, not here." James got a disappointed look and went back into his own little world.

"Lily huh? You guys all buddy-buddy now?"

"No. She was just checking with me to see if you liked Rebby because she noticed a 'look' the other day or something. I told her you were 100 attached to Rach's hip and the odds of removal with out death or serious injury was .00000000000001. She seemed satisfied with my response."

"Good. I don't have those kinds of feelings for Rebby, and I have no intention of breaking up with or cheating on Rach at any point in the near or distant future."

"Like you would ever cheat on a girl at all Mister Perfect Boyfriend." I rolled my eyes at him. Really, all the girls may chase James and I around the school, and they may say they want to date James and I, but really most of them just want to snog the two of us senseless for a couple of days. When the girls chase Remus it's because they want him for: 1) his body 2) his smarts 3) his capacity for having an actual relationship. A lot of emphasis on that last one too.

"Well then, James, let's get the love struck puppy to the infirmary and get him healed up so I can beat him over the head later for teasing me."

"Sounds good to me." James replied "Hurry it up you furry little rascal, you have to go get your woman back after Remus uses your head as a punching bag too."

"Great. So now I'm love-struck, a moving target, an invalid, a punching bag, and a puppy? Man do you know how to make a guy feel better." I rolled my eyes. I really need to stop doing that, someday I'm going to roll my eyes and not be able to stop or something.

"Well, look at it this way, you're a retriever, so hunting down Becca shouldn't be difficult." James smirked at me.

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind the next time you need my help with something Lily related." an empty threat seeing as he's my best mate and I could never leave him hanging in a moment of need. He rarely asks for my help with anything anyways, its usually just implied. I mean, what are friends for if not to help you torment young girls in an attempt to get them to date you and pull pranks on small impressionable munchkins?

Note the sarcasm there.

We reached the infirmary and, after a bit of disgruntled murmuring, Madame Pomfry gave me a potion to drink. The effect was almost instant, the immediate pain subsided and the burn marks healed themselves, closing up before our very eyes. "Cool." I said as the burn on my arm disappeared.

"Yes, very 'cool'. Now stop getting into trouble or you'll see how 'cool' it is when you have to re-grow a bone or two." That was a threat right there. Last year I had to have a finger re-grown because a certain prospective healer said she could fix my broken index finger. The good news is the girl has since graduated, the bad news is that now Madame Pomfry likes to throw it in my face as a warning every time I get hurt.

"Yes, well, I'll just be moving along then..." I hopped off of the infirmary bed and headed for the door. "Thanks again Madame Pomfry!" I waved over my shoulder at her. James and Remus caught up at the door, Remus still carrying my bag since I was too lazy to suggest he give it to me. "Now, I'm off to find Becca, force her to listen, and explain everything. Who's going to help?"

Complete and utter silence from the peanut gallery.

I stopped in the middle of the hall and turned to face them. The next class had started already, so the halls were empty. "Come on, I need someone to help me knock her out and someone to stand guard while I tie her up and force her to listen to me and someone to keep Lily and Rebby busy while the other one and I do those things."

"Er... Or you could tell Lily and Rebby you need to talk to her, have them leave the room, then explain patiently, allowing for outbursts, what happened. You might want to bring your wand though judging by Defense class."

"True. I would like to keep the rest of my limbs in tact." We turned a corner and arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady. "Sugar plums. What is a sugar plum by the way?" I directed the last bit to Remus who shrugged his shoulders.

"Dunno, Lily suggested that one to the 7th year Prefects. She gave them a whole list as a matter of fact. Probably they just decided to let her handle the passwords this year or are going straight off her list." Remus rolled his eyes.

"That's my Lily flower! Always prepared!" James smiled widely.

"Stop rubbing the fact that you have a secret girlfriend in my face while I search for my supposed ex-girlfriend. It's making me feel all annoyed and emotional. You remember what happened last time I was all annoyed and emotional and you taunted me, right?" I glowered at James.

"Yeah... You bit me on the arm and wouldn't let go until I apologized. I have the scars to prove it." James rolled up his sleeve revealing six small white scars on his arm in a small arc.

"Man, I've grown, my bite is much larger now, and my teeth are sharper too."

"Yes... Maybe I'll just shut up about Lily now, eh?"

"Good move mate, good move." Remus nodded his head wisely. If you were me or James, you'd never know he was hiding a small smirk behind that angelic face.

"Let's see... How to get up to the girls dorms... Ah, yes, here we go." I walked over to the stair case, looked around the commons once more making sure no one else was there, then transformed into a dog and walked right up them without any trouble.

"We've been trying for the past five years to figure out a way to get up those stairs without jumping the majority of them and i_now_/i you figure it out in two seconds? Yeesh..." James rolled his eyes at me and, checking the commons as well, transformed into a stag and carried Remus up the stairs.

We walked to the door of the girls dorms and I knocked quietly and waited for someone to come and see who was there. The door was opened a little and a girl with long red hair backed out of the door and closed it behind her. I heard crying sounds coming from the room. I knew it was Becca crying, but I still had to keep myself from peeking around the corner of the door in curiosity. "That's Becca crying in there isn't it?" I asked quietly as the girl turned slowly. It's always hard to tell from behind if you're addressing Lily, Rebby, or Becca when they have their hair down. All three have long red hair and, while there are distinct color differences, if you don't take the time to examine them carefully at some point, from behind you'd never know the difference. I knew this person wasn't Becca; he hair is a lighter shade of red, almost a strawberry blonde. This girls hair was darker, more of a copper tone. Darned if I know which one of the other two it is though, I don't pay attention usually. Even with the girls I dated I didn't really pay attention to the detail that much. That's another thing that's different about how I treat Becca, I notice the little things with her, the little quirks that are specific to her, not just the little things that all girls like or display.

"Yes. She's in there crying and it's your fault. If you don't want to get injured again, I suggest you leave now." The girl said. Definitely Lily, I'd know that note of control rage anywhere, having been on the receiving end of it with James so often.

"Lily, he needs to talk to her, just a few minutes. She probably needs to talk to him too." James explained to Lily calmly.

"No. She's upset and letting the person that upset her in there to talk to her isn't the best idea at the moment. Now go away before I report you to MacGonagall for being in the girls dormitories."

"But Lily, come on, just for a few minutes! It won't hurt anything! I mean-" James was trying to reason with her, but it wasn't going to help.

"Lily, please..." I whispered hoarsely. The emotion was taking me over, making it difficult to speak, to do anything but the one thing I didn't want to do right now, cry. I looked down at my feet. "Please, I've never asked anything of you for myself, so please, just this once..." I looked up, straight at Lily. "Let me talk to her, I need to explain my actions, I need her to understand... I need her to listen to me... She needs to understand why I... She needs, she deserves, the truth... Let me give it to her, please... Please..." I looked down again, wiping at my eyes, trying to keep any tears from falling. God, I'm such a wimp, look at me crying like a little baby over a girl.

Lily gave me an odd look, then slowly a small smile appeared on her face. "Okay. Just give me a second." She said quietly, then turned and crept back into the room.

"Sirius..." James was giving me an odd look as well.

"Yeah?"

An encouraging smile appeared on his face "Good luck."

"Try not to be too confrontational Sirius. Becca is headstrong, and so are you, so one of you has to give way for either of you to get anything said. Try to be the one that does." Remus said wisely, smiling encouragingly with James. "Good luck."

"Thanks guys." I nodded appreciatively to them.

Lily crept back out the door, followed by Rebby. "Go on in. She's really upset right now, so don't be surprised if she's blubbering like an idiot."

"And if you make it any worse I'm going to beat your brains in, find something pointy to stab you with repeatedly, toss you off the astronomy tower, then chop you into bits. Then I'll find some way to put you back together and bring you back to life so I can do it all again, you hear me? Indefinite torture!"

"That's enough Rebby." Lily stopped Rebby's tirade and led her to the side of the door so I could enter.

"I'll keep that in mind Rebby." I whispered to her as I stepped up to the door and turned the knob.

As I walked in James said something to Rebby that I could barely hear because of the sudden appearance of Becca's sobs. He said "You do realize that nothing you could ever do to him could be worse than what he'll put himself through if he makes it worse."

That was the last thing I heard as I closed the door behind myself and walked to Becca's bed. I sat on the edge of her bed and hesitated, gathering my thoughts. "Becca... I need to tell you the truth about something..."


	23. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

"You do realize that nothing you could ever do to him could be worse than what he'll put himself through if he makes it worse. That's why he came to talk to her. Not for himself really, for her sake. He may not show it most of the time, but he cares for others more than he does for himself. I think it's because he's a nice guy. Remus said once that it's because he grew up not having a lot of friends, not having anyone else to care about, so that now that he does, he would do anything to protect them and save that bond. I think Remus is right too, though I won't pretend to understand it completely. I just wanted you two to know that he's not doing this to help himself feel better about whatever it was he did, he's trying to make things right with her, and make it better for her." James was looking directly at us with the most serious and sincere look I had ever seen on his face. It was the same expression he had when we had had our talk about our relationship a couple months ago, about just being friends until I could handle anything more than that.

"You should let that side out more, you know. You should let it show." I said without thinking.

"Hm..? Let what show?" James looked at me puzzled.

"The side of you that's kind and mature. You're really more mature than you seem, you just behave like a child all the time. It makes people laugh, and it makes people recognize you, but they would have more respect for you if you were a little more serious every now and then."

"Who says I'm interested in respect?" James raised an eyebrow.

"No one, it was just a thought. You have a side of you that you rarely let show, and it's a pity that do so, that's all."

"Hmm..." James took a moment to consider this.

"That's the side of him that I tried for three years to convince him to show you more often. For some reason he and Sirius treated this suggestion as a form of blasphemy and tossed it aside like a radioactive bug that makes you turn purple with pink polka dots all over." Remus rolled his eyes.

"It's not that we didn't understand what you meant, it was that we were having too much fun being kids. We figure we only live once, why not make childhood last as long as we can?"

"Huh... That's oddly wise of you." I looked at him suspiciously.

"Another of the things my father told me before her died. 'Make your childhood last as long as you can, it's the only one you'll get and it passes faster than you think.' He told me that the week before he was killed."

A nice awkward silence filled the hall where everyone averted their eyes from James. "Well," I said, breaking the unbearable silence "let's go downstairs and give them some space."

James sort of grunted in agreement and turned on his heel, heading to the stairs. Remus, Rebby and I followed him, and when he reached the stairs he stepped, probably without thinking, on the first one then promptly fell on his face and slid down to the bottom where he landed in a crumpled heap.

"That looked painful." I said, trying not to laugh. It really wasn't the time for laughter, but seeing James Potter, Mr. Cool, slide down the stairs on his face like that was classic and there fore made it a bit difficult not to laugh. "You alive down there?" the stairs changed back into stairs and I walked down them with Rebby in tow, only for them to give way below our feet three steps from the top and slide down on our butts.

I looked up from the bottom of the stairs at Remus's cheeky grin as he removed his foot from the space where the top step had been. That cheeky little... He set them off on Rebby and I on purpose! "Remus!" I exclaimed, shocked.

"What can I say? It was too easy." he grinned some more, then poked the top step with his foot again and slid down to the bottom quite gracefully, standing as his feet hit the floor.

I made a point of glaring at him for the next hour and a half while the four of us waited for Sirius and Becca to finish 'The Discussion' as we had begun to refer to it. It was spoken as a capitalized word, like a title, not a generalization. We were sitting around talking in hushed tones by the fire place when we heard a door open and close up in the girls dorms. I sucked in a big breath of air and held it. There were foot steps coming towards the stairs now. The commons was empty except for the four of us, so the room was completely silent allowing for those footsteps to echo around us.

The steps stopped at the top of the stairs and everyone's eyes glued themselves to the bottom as the stairs changed to a slide. Sirius was coming down and a lot would be decided by his expression and his mood. A lot for him, a lot for Becca, and a lot for all of us, the spectators to the big event.

I was crying so hard I didn't hear them knock on the door. I didn't hear Lily and Rebby leave. I didn't hear him walk in. I just assumed that the two girls were still present, sitting on the edge of my bed, standing watch over me as usual. Rebby had always been there, ever since we were kids. Lily had been there for the last five years, since Rebby and I had met her on the train. I guess I sort of take their presence in my times of need for granted, though to be fair I haven't had many. So when I felt a hand rubbing my back gently, a soft finger wipe a tear from my cheek, a quiet voice tell me it was okay, that everything would be alright, I assumed it was one or both of them.

Of course, I assumed wrong.

I cried for a good hour, until my tear ducts were empty and I didn't have the energy to cry any longer. The person, whether it was Lily or Rebby, kept rubbing my back, occasionally giving me a hug, telling me that it would be alright and to calm down. The person was telling me that everything would be okay, and though we both knew that that wasn't true, it made me feel better just to hear the words spoken aloud.

When I had finally calmed down enough to pull my head from it's place among my now soaked pillows, I sat up and looked around. The first thing I noticed was that Lily and Rebby were both gone. The second thing was that there was a man sitting on my bed comforting me instead of either of the red headed girls.

"Sirius... You...?" I was a little stunned seeing him sitting there. Not because I hadn't expected him to be there, or because I hadn't expected my two best friends to let him in to see me, or because I didn't want to see him. It was the fact that he had been crying too that struck me most. His face was lined with tear stains, his cheek still damp from where the latest tear had made it's way down only to drop from his chin and land somewhere in the sea of covers below. "Why are you... I mean, why are you in here? How did you get in here? Where are-?"

"Lily and Rebby are downstairs with James and Remus. Lily and Rebby let me in to talk to you, to reason with you. With the state you're in now though, I wonder if maybe I should leave it until tomorrow? I don't want to just upset you further." his face was completely serious, something I've never seen before. Even when he told me about his parents, about his childhood, there was always that hint of amusement hidden in the bitter sarcasm. Not now though, now he was completely and utterly serious, as his name would imply.

"Why would they...?"

"I asked them too. Well, begged them really. I guess it was a wasted effort." Sirius paused, averting his eyes to the floor. "You're tired. Crying makes people tired. I'll go and let you sleep. We can talk tomorrow if you'll let me."

Sirius stood up and scratched the back on his neck. He gave me one last glance, then turned and began to walk towards the door. 'Stop him!' my subconscious screamed 'make him stay!'

"W-wait... Wait!" I half yelled. He stopped with his hand stretched out to the door knob. "We need to talk now... Tomorrow I'll just be pissed off again, whether I want to be or not, so we need to talk now." it was the truth too. No matter how cool I tried to keep myself, no matter how much I tried to tell myself it was nothing and brush it off, I couldn't let my anger go, and I needed to do so before someone else got hurt. We needed to talk before I hurt someone again.

Sirius walked back over and sat down on the edge of my bed again. He sat with his back hunched over, his hands clasped in his lap, his head down. "I was just walking down the hall on my way back to the dorms. She cornered me, she's been trying to do that for weeks now, and I was fed up with her, so I tried to get her to back off by acting uninterested. She didn't take the hint though, quite the opposite. It was everything I could do to keep myself from hitting her when she started insulting you. She's a woman though, so I didn't hit her, it wouldn't be very manly of me to hit a woman. She surprised me when she kissed me, that's why I didn't pull away immediately. I was in total shock that she would have the guts to just up and kiss me in the middle of the hall when I had plainly told her I was uninterested. When you came around the corner and walked up to us I thought for sure the one you would hit was me. I actually braced myself for the impact. When you hit her instead, when you blamed her, I was kind of surprised."

"I heard most of the conversation, so I knew you didn't want to kiss her." I mumbled.

"Yes, well... The reason I held you back... Well... As much as I would have loved to see her get her eyes clawed out at that point, I didn't want you to get carried away and hurt her too much, I didn't want you to get in trouble on her account. Plus, you kind of scared me... I felt like I was losing you when you attacked her like that... Like you were losing yourself..."

This statement sent a shiver down my spine. I had felt that way too just before he pulled me off of her. Again when I had attacked him earlier in the Defense classroom. Like I had no control over my actions. Like my movements were controlled by some foreign entity inside myself. "I know... What you mean... I understand..."

"Well... What about us?"

"I..." I paused... What he said made sense, but I was hesitant to take him back. I mean, he still hadn't explained the whole 'I love you' incident... Though maybe he didn't think he needed to. "I need to know how you really feel about me... I need to know if you meant it, what you said the other day..."

"About loving you?"

"Yes."

Sirius stood at the end of the slide. We couldn't see his face, it was hidden in the shadows created by his hair. His head was bowed, shoulders slumped, arms dangling uselessly at his side, he looked the part of a completely defeated man.

His body language did not bring happy thoughts to mind.

"S... Sirius?" i whispered questioningly. I don't know if he even heard me from his place by the stairs. In any case, he didn't act like he had heard me. He walked across the room, seemingly to us, but when he reached our place in the middle of the room, he passed us by and headed instead for the window.

Sirius stopped at the window. He looked out it for a minute, his back to us. James stood up and walked over to him, stopping a few steps behind him. "Sirius?" James said, repeating my one word question, only louder.

Sirius, though he had to of heard James, did not respond. Instead he reached his arm out slowly and unlatched the window, which swung open from the force of the cool wind outside. It was the beginning of winter, as was proven by the fact that it had started snowing late the night before and had neglected to stop since. Even now the light flurries flitted through the window traveling on the frigid breeze.

Sirius placed both hands on the window sill and leaned forward on them. A heavy gust of wind came through the window blowing a few loose papers around the room. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself in an attempt to block myself from the wind. Sirius did the opposite. He arched his back and tilted his head back, letting the freezing wind hit him full on.

"Sirius?" James said once again, taking another step towards him.

"James?" Sirius said lightly in response. He turned his face from the window slightly so that only James could see his expression.

James stood there momentarily, a look of confusion coming over him at first. Then the worry lines in his forehead melted away, the tightness around the corners of his mouth vanished, and his eyebrows unfurled and instead of frowning in confusion or worry, James smiled, ever so slightly, and closed his eyes. He shook his head slightly and gave a couple of silent chuckles. Though maybe i was the only one that interpreted it as this, because Rebby hopped up and walked over to Sirius.

"I'm so sorry Sirius. I was actually hoping she would listen to you. I'm so, so sorry." she said, patting him on the back and giving him a sympathetic look.

"What ever are you talking about Rebby? I'm perfectly fine. So is Becca to the best of my knowledge. At least, she seemed fine when i left her." Sirius said this and turned to face all of us with a gentle smile on his face. Very un-Sirius.

Very, i_very_/i un-Sirius.

So very un-Sirius that i thought he'd gone mad at first. But then i heard steps behind me and turned around in time to see Becca walking down the stairs, a big smile plastered on her face. She was wearing her skiing coat and her big black leather boots with a pair of dark jeans and a blue sweater. In her hand she held her broom.

Wait a second... Sirius is wearing a sweater and boots as well... What's going on here?

"We're going out for a bit. We'll be going by broom and we'll be back in a few hours, a little past dinner at the latest. Our teachers think we're in the hospital wing already anyways, so we get the rest of the day off. Siri and I have decided to take advantage of that and go on a little trip. Do me a favor and feed Alasse and Hermes for me, would you Lily? Thanks."

"You ready Rebecca?" Sirius asked her, still with that gentle smile on his face. It was starting to creep me out.

"Yup. How about you? Going out in the cold on a broom in that sweater alone? And where's your broom?"

"Brooms right here." he pulled his broom out of his pocket and enlarged it to it's normal size. "_iAccio coat! Accio Cloaks!/i_ And here is my coat-" his coat zoomed down the stairs and landed in his hand "and a cloak for each of us as well." two large black cloaks landed in his other hand. He handed her a cloak, which she put on, and kept the other for himself, putting it on over his own long black leather coat. "You know someday I'm going to get a motorbike to go with this coat. Need to save the money up for it first though..." oh, yeah, that's practical, a motorbike. What's he going to do for transportation if it rains? Imbecile.

And why the crap are they both acting so... So completely... So completely ignorant to the fact that we're all confused and that they were both incredibly upset about two hours ago? If someone doesn't explain something to me soon i might just blow a gasket.

"Well," Becca said, stepping onto the window sill with Sirius. " See you all later then." she stepped off the ledge and into space.

"Later mates." Sirius said as well, following her example.

I freaked out and dashed to the window ledge with wide eyes and a racing heart. 'Holy god they just committed lovers suicide!' was my first thought. Of course, that didn't make sense, and they had their brooms, so i looked around for them and saw two black dots some distance off over the tree line. 'Damn they're fast n those brooms.' This was my second thought and was immediately followed by 'Hey! They're breaking school rules!'

"That looked like fun. I'll have to try that someday." James said from beside me. He still had that same little smile on his face.

"What? Scaring your friends half to death by jumping out a window on the seventh floor of a castle?"

"No... But that too."

"Okay, does _ianyone/i_ want to tell me what in the bloody _ihell/i_ is going on here?"

"Yeah? What just happened?" Rebby chimed in.

"I think i may understand a little. The two made up, that much is obvious, but also..."

"They'll tell you when they see fit." James said. "Sirius and Becca will tell you when they feel it's the right time for you to know. For now, let celebrate the fact that those two have stopped fighting and that all man kind is now safe from the wrath of one Anabell Elizabeth Rebecca Burns."

"Here, here!" Remus agreed heartily.

"What are we cheering about?" Rach asked as she entered the commons through the portrait hole. "I have a study hall this period so i went to check on Becca and Sirius, make sure they weren't trying to finish their duel in the Infirmary or something, but they weren't there, so i thought I'd check here before i went running to the headmaster about missing students."

"Good call Rach, seeing as the two reunited lovebirds have just flown the coop." Remus replied.

"Quite literally may i add." I said.

"Where did they go? And during classes?" Rach gave us a questioning glance.

"Don't ask us," i gestured to Remus, Rebby and myself. "We don't know. Mr. Smarty-Pants-Potter here knows more than he's telling us, but he doesn't seem to feel it right and proper to spill the beans."

"Spill the beans? There are beans involved?" James asked.

"Muggle reference. Means you won't tell us what's going on." Rebby explained.

"Oh... Well then... Nope, sure won't. I don't know where exactly they went anyways, and I'm positive in know what's up though with the 'happy skippy jump out a window and fly away into the clear blue yonder with goofy grins on our faces' but I've been known to be wrong about things i was positive about before, haven't i Remus?"

"Well... There was that one time when we went to the Spanish coast and you and Sirius were positive that-"

"Stop talking before I'm forced to cut your tongue out."

"Or that time at Sirius's families boat when-"

"I'll do it Remus, i really will."

"Or when we all went to that party and Sirius and you decided that-"

"Remus..." James said warningly giving him a nice scary glare.

"Yes James?" Remus responded innocently.

"Run!" James started chasing after Remus, running through the commons like a lunatic on a rampage. He aught him after a few laps, threw him to the ground, sat on his back, and commenced the most painful and longest drawn out noogies known to mankind. When Remus stood back up, laughing and rubbing his head, his hair stood out at odd angles all over and wouldn't be tamed no matter what.

"So _ithat's/i_ what happens to your hair every morning..." Rebby said to James.

"Nah, this is all natural babe." James winked at Rebby and pointed to his hair.

"Lily, make your boyfriend stopped flirting with me, it's creepy."

"Stop flirting with her, it's creepy." i said plainly.

"Yes ma'am!" James saluted me.

"Now get up to your room and get your books out. If we're going to skip our afternoon classes, i might as well get some transfiguration tutoring in. Hop to it! March two, three, four, hup two, three, four..." James turned and marched up to his dormitories with a flourish and a salute as he passed out of sight on the steps. "That man, someday..." i smiled and shook my head. 'someday he's going to make a great father' what i was thinking, but I'd never say that out loud. He would, though, make a good father. He knew how to make everything funny when the occasion called for it and knew when to be serious, something kids recognize with both appreciation and respect. 'Yes Potter, a fine father you will be.'

"Where to?" I asked as i landed next to Sirius in the middle of Hogsmeade.

"You'll see."

"Are we going to dinner?"

"Yes, but not here." Sirius shrank his broom and placed it in his pocket. "Your broom?" he held out his hand for my broom, and when i handed it to him he shrank it and put it into his pocket as well. "Now, just give me a second and I'll be back with the food." Sirius was gone before i could say 'Okay', off to god knows where to get some food.

Probably you're wondering what happened after i asked Sirius about the 'L' word. Well, so am i. I mean, i was there, i was conscious, it was all just a bit of a blur...

"I said i loved you Becca, and i meant it. I still mean it. The simple fact is you've somehow managed to tame the wild beast."

"The... The 'wild beast'?" i giggled a little. Only Sirius could make me laugh at such a serious moment when i was so upset.

"Oh, you know what i mean. Not to go cheesy on you or anything, but you've taken my heart and hidden it away and i can't seem to find it without you."

"Yeah... Leave the cheesy love poetry to me, you're not very good at it." i giggled again. 'But he said the 'L' word.' a little voice said in my head. "Sirius... I mean... I'm glad you like me, and that you like me that much, but i don't know if I'm comfortable with using that term..."

"What? 'Love'? But aren't you the romantic one?"

"I mean yeah but..."

"You're always going on about how grand true love is in your books, so why-"

"It's just not the same! In books, everything is fairytales, it's not true. Books are fictional. In real life that kind of love doesn't exist! I wish it did, sure, but it doesn't! In fairytales the beautiful princess gets carried away by the prince and they get married and live happily ever after, but this isn't a fairytale! This is REALITY! There are no 'happily ever after's in reality!" I was pretty worked up now. Really, i didn't want to believe anything i was saying, and i had never realized that i thought that way, but i guess the pessimist in me is greater than i thought.

"You know..." after a short silence, during which i started to cry again silently (really? What i_is/i_ the matter with me today?), Sirius spoke quietly. "You know, i thought that too. I thought that, as long as there's so much evil in the world, as long as a father can abuse his children and innocent people can die for no reason and good people like Remus can become misunderstood monsters, how could there ever be any 'happily ever after's? Truth is, 'Happily ever after' can be interpreted differently by different people. As long as you have someone to love, and someone to love you in return, as long as you face each day and do your best, you can only ever have a 'happily ever after'. Bad things are always going to happen, no matter what, happiness is decided by how you react to those things. If you break down and give up and curse the world, the world is going to curse you back and keep on moving without you. If you look at a bad thing and see the 'silver lining', if you look at it and say 'well this sucks... i_but_/i-' then there's always a chance for happiness." i blinked at this. Sirius just gave me a speech, a heartfelt speech, on how to look at the world. It was pretty deep too. I didn't know Sirius could be deep. Sirius is the shallow one with the short temper and the crappy childhood. Remus is the deep one with the book smarts and the crappy childhood. James is the occasionally deep one with the charisma and the good childhood. Peter is... Well, i don't really know much about Peter. But Sirius is not the one who is deep, he's not even the one who is occasionally deep, he's the one who cracks jokes at inappropriate moments and chases girls and starts fights. Sirius's eyes brightened, as if something had just occurred to him. "Now, get your clothes changed. Put on some warm muggle clothing and bring your coat and your broom. We're going out on a date."

"But, i, what?"

"Just get yourself together. I have something i want to show you." Sirius smirked at me kindly.

Hmmm... "Hmmm..." interesting... But wait... "So, where does this leave us?" i was confused. He hadn't asked me to take him back, he had just explained himself and used the 'L' word a lot.

"That is entirely up to you. I would love it if you'd take me back, if you feel that is incredibly impossible, then that's your choice. Honestly, right now, I'm hoping for boyfriend, just friends at least."

"Well..."

"No decisions necessary now... You've got time, plenty of time, for now we'll go with friends, maybe after our feild trip, you'll have come to a decision?"

"M-maybe..." What is going on... Who is this mild mannered, romantic, sweet man and what has he done with wild, womanizing, immature Sirius?

"Oh, looks, it's snowing again. Better dress extra warm. I'll be downstairs waiting." With that he turned and walked out of the room.

Needless to say i was a little shocked. Most of what he had said about happiness hadn't sunken in yet and we were going on a 'field trip' to a mystery place. Okay.

Somehow i managed to change into a pair of jeans, a long sleeve blue thermal with little multi colored stars on it, a brown leather belt, and a pair of fuzzy brown boots. I threw my hair into a ponytail, grabbed my ski coat, my wallet, and my broom and headed down to the commons. Sirius and i jumped out of the common room window and flew here, to Hogsmeade, so here i am, standing in the middle of Main Street waiting for my... Er... 'friend' to bring back food so that we can go to the mystery place.

This all seems a little sketchy to me, but then I've never had the ability to listen to my own common sense over my own curiosity. I felt a presence behind me and jumped as a hand descended on my shoulder.

"Sirius!"

"That's me. Sorry i startled you, I've got the food," he wiggled a picnic basket in his right hand, "now, to get there. Hold onto my arm as tight as you can and close your eyes."

"Er, why?" curious...

"You'll see, just do it. And don't let go for any reason until i tell you it's safe, okay?"

"Alright..." I grabbed his left arm and hugged it to myself, gripping as tightly as possible, closed my eyes, and waited. At first there was nothing, then i felt like i was being dragged along my Sirius's arm. I nearly slipped off having not braced myself for it, but i held onto his arm tighter instead. Then it felt like someone was trying to shove me through the neck of a bottle of soda pop, not altogether pleasant. Just when i thought i couldn't stand the overcrowded feeling any longer, it stopped and i felt the ground under my feet again.

"Okay, you can open you eyes now." Sirius said.

So, of course, i opened my eyes and looked around. The only thing i could say was "Oh... Oh my god... We're... How did we get...?"

"I thought you'd like it here." Sirius smiled at me brightly and set down the picnic basket.

"Where exactly is 'here'?" i asked, taking another look around. We were standing on top of a large rocky cliff, in front of us was a large body of water, probably the ocean. The water was a mixture of greens and bright blues and you could see all the way to the bottom in the shallower areas. There was a beach below the cliff covered in fine white and black sand. It was completely empty, which i found odd seeing as it was such a beautiful beach. The wind blew lightly, and i turned to look behind me where a large field of bright green grass was growing in every direction. The wind blew again making the grass shimmy and shake with it. I took off my coat. It was warm here, really warm. It was like one of those perfect spring days that happen so rarely, especially in England. Were we even in England anymore? We couldn't be, it was too warm. Were we in Europe? It was possible, but not probable. I turned to ask Sirius again where we were, but he wasn't standing next to me anymore. He was gone. There was a blanket laid out on the ground where he had been standing and the picnic basket was sitting on top of it. This made me a little uneasy, but then again, most everything i did with Sirius made me a little uneasy, he's just way too good at surprises for his own good. You never know what's coming from him.

I sat down on the blanket and started to unpack the food inside. Fresh baked bread, lettice, turkey meat, provolone cheese, tomato, green olives, fetta cheese, green peppers, two plates, two wine glasses, and two large cloth napkins. "Interesting..."

"Glad you find the food amusing."

"Oh! Sirius, where'd you go?"

"I just popped into the town a couple island over to pick up a few things."

"So, where exactly are we?"

"We are in Greece. We are currently sitting on a Grecian island owned by my family and only ever used once on a vacation."

"You i_own_/i an island?"

"Yup. Wish i could get down here more often though."

"Huh... You own an island... Of course... Why didn't i think of that... But wait, how did we get here?"

Sirius cocked his head to one side cheekily and said "Side-along apparation. I learned how this summer when my cousin Bellatrix was getting her instruction."

"They let you?"

"They hadn't a choice, i snuck in and listened, then practiced it on my own time."

"Ah..." Sounds dangerous... "So what did you get in the town?"

"A few things for lunch. Some homemade greek salad dressing, a bottle of red wine, and a bathing suit, skirt and t-shirt for you to change into."

"Er..."

"What? My family owns a Villa in the town."

"Your family needs to not be so rich." i rolled my eyes and he handed my the clothing.

"There's some bushes over there, happy changing." Sirius turned and started changing out his own thick Gryffindor sweater and undershirt for a light breezy white cotton button down. 'Oh, look, abs... Yummy... Right, changing my clothes, on it.' I turned and walked over to the bushes Sirius had pointed out and changed my clothes behind them. The bathing suit was a plain royal blue halter with bikini bottoms and i put it on underneath the light blue ankle length cotton skirt and white t-shirt Sirius had given me. 'I wonder how he knew my size...' i thought when i assessed myself. Everything fit me perfectly, even the bathing suit, which is odd because i have a really hard time finding bathing suits that fit me properly. There weren't any shoes included in the little ensemble, so i walked back to the picnic blanket barefoot carrying my heavy load of winter clothing with me.

"So whose clothes are these?"

"Ah, my cousin Nymphadora's, she a couple years behind us, but she's big for her age.

"Cool..."

"Salad? Sandwich? Glass of wine?"

I sat down on the blanket next to him and took the plate he offered me containing a half a turkey sandwich and a portion of greek salad and a glass of red wine. I ate the food and drank the wine. It was all delicious.

"So, the point of coming out here was to bribe me into taking you back?"

"Well... Partially... Is it working?"

"It already did. I was ready to take you back after you explained what happened. I just have issues with commitment..." i trailed off.

I looked up at Sirius for his reaction. He had this slightly disappointed look on his face. "Well, there goes plan A."

"What?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know just yet... Here." He held out his hand and let what was inside it drop into my hand.I held the thing up; it was a small silver chain with a little silver star hanging off of it. "It's a promise bracelet. I promise not to make you cry ever again."

"I..." wow... Since when did Sirius get all... Mushy... "Stop being all sweet and stuff, it's confusing... Next thing i know you're going to start singing to me and try to get me to dance." I rolled my eyes.

"Well, now that you mention it..."

"Don't you dare!"

"Fine, since you're going to take away all my fun, let's go swimming shall we?"

"Okay!" i smiled and followed Sirius down the path to the beach.

What? I'm a sucker for good food and presents. Of course it's got nothing to do with loving Sirius... Right?


	24. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

"Once upon a time there was a girl who saw an evil little boy picking on a poor little kid. The girl got really mad and beat the crap out of the evil little boy, sending him home crying to his mommy. The end." Becca folded her arms over her chest and huffed, glaring pointedly down the hall.

"No, Becca, not the end. You can't just go around picking fights with people and you know it." Lily replied.

"Well if you ask me, _they're_ the one's picking the fight! I mean, look at them picking on that poor little first year! He didn't do anything to them!" Becca was throwing a tantrum now. Though her tantrum does have a good point to it.

"Didn't you call them munchkins the other day?" I asked.

"It's a term of endearment, get used to it." Becca growled at me. "Lily! Let me go teach them a lesson! They shouldn't be picking on first years and you know it!"

"Of course I know it! But not even James here is stupid enough to go picking a fight with seven students who older than him, bigger than him, and stronger than him."

"I think that was an insult." I commented. I don't understand why Becca doesn't just ask for my help, I'd gladly give her a hand kicking some Slytherine butts. I would have suggested it first, but I'm trying to stay on Lily's good side, and Lily doesn't like to kick Slytherine butts or when I kick Slytherine butts, so I decided against it.

"But it wouldn't be just me! James would help, wouldn't you?"

Now she catches on. "Of course. My first 3 rules are never back down from a fight, never leave a friend hanging, and take all opportunities to kick Slytherine butts."

"James! Stop encouraging her!"

"Don't tell me you wouldn't help too if you weren't a prefect."

"You know I would, but it would be against the rules!"

"Fine, you stand here around the corner and watch. If the Slytherines start getting the better of us, you come and help or pretend to be running down the hall with a teacher or something. If we are winning then just happen to come around the corner after they run screaming for their mommies." I compromised.

"Fine!" Lily huffed, leaning against the stone wall of the corridor and crossing her arms. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Becca rolled her eyes at Lily and, with a wink, strolled around the corner into the hall with the first year and the Slytherines.

"I swear, someday that girl is going to get into it with someone she can't win against, and knowing her, it'll be over one of her chivalrous ideals." I shook my head and followed Becca into the hallway.

"Hey! What do you morons think you're doing? Leave that kid alone." Becca walked up to the group of people, stopping about five steps from them. I followed suit, standing just behind her to her right.

There were 5 Slytherines total, 3 boys and 2 girls, standing over a small bay with mousy brown hair. I recognized the small boy from the sorting by face, not by name. Of the Slytherines I could identify all 5. The tall blonde boy hovering closest to the little boy was Lucius Malfoy, a right pain in the arse and a member of one of the oldest pureblood families, he was in his 7th year now. The boy standing next to him was Rodalphus Lestrange, also a 7th year and a pureblood. Rodalphus was dating the girl standing across from him, Bellatrix Black, Sirius's cousin. Bellatrix was leaning against a wall looking bored at the first year and annoyed at Becca. Bella, as she's called most often, was in our grade, a 7th year. Another of Sirius's cousins, Narcissa Black, stood next to her with her nose in the air, as if she was too good for the entire world. She was a 7th year as well and dating Lucius. At the back of the group stood a boy with greasy black hair and long black robes. He was Severus Snape, Sirius and mine's favorite Slytherine to get retribution on, mainly because he was so incredibly horrible at controlling his temper and reacted to everything we threw at him. Severus was a 6th year also and a whiz at potions. Half the time I couldn't tell if he hated Lily for her ability in potions or admired her for it, you can never tell with him until you get him riled up. When he saw me he took two or three steps back, away from the group, as if he meant to distance himself from them to say he had nothing to do with it. Yeah, right.

"Oh, look, it's Anabell the cow and Potter the blood traitor." Malfoy sneered at us. He was clearly overconfident, and had good reason to be. Not only did he have us out numbered, but the people out numbering us were, for the most part, fairly talented students, much as I hate to admit it.

"Shut up you Barbie doll and let the kid go." Becca yelled at him. Uh-oh, temper alert.

"And why would I listen to you, you cow?"

"You know, I really wouldn't do that if I were you." I interjected, but none of them listened to me.

"Prick!"

"Half-blood!"

"I'm telling you, it's not a good idea..."

"Jackass!"

"Lowly piece of trash! You're not fit to clean my toilets."

"See? Now you've gone and done it." I sighed and resigned myself to the fact that I was going to spend the afternoon in the infirmary.

"YOU!" There it goes, Becca's temper just snapped. Really, we need to get a leash for her. Becca threw herself at Malfoy, completely forgetting her wand. Or maybe she didn't forget it, maybe she just wanted the satisfaction of beating Malfoy's face to a bloody pulp, I know I would.

When she lunged I pulled out my wand and disarmed Rodalphus before he had a chance to react. Then I turned to Bella and shot a stunner at her, which she dodged, with a slight smirk. She threw a curse at me, and I put up a shield to block it with a yell of 'protego'. I continued to duel with Bella while Narcissa took a few steps back, too good to get into the fight, and Snape looked hesitantly from the fight, to the corridor behind him, then back to the fight.

Bella was throwing spell after spell at me, not even phased by my attacks, when she made a careless mistake and slipped on a small amount of blood that had poured from the 1st years nose. She fell to the ground hard, landing on her back, and I stunned her not even a second later.

Then I turned to see how Becca was doing with Lucius. She had broken his nose and given him what would be a nice black eye. At some point Rodalphus had come up behind her and pinned her arms so she couldn't move them. Lucius had taken the opportunity to stand up and take a few swings at her, thinking she was immobilized because she couldn't use her arms.

A truly fatal mistake if Becca had had more than a summers worth of martial arts training. When Lucius came within range, Becca swung her legs up in a spinning move and kicked him in the head while twisting out of Rodalphus's grip. Lucius fell to the ground in a heap, probably seeing stars. Rodalphus was thrown off balance and tripped over his own feet, sending him straight into Becca, throwing the both of them to the ground. I ran over and stunned Rodalphus, pulling Becca out from underneath him. The only two left were Narcissa and Snape. Narcissa yawned haughtily and leaned against a wall like she was bored. Snape went to pull out his wand when my gaze landed on him, and I was about to teach him a lesson as well, but Lily came out from around the corner.

"Snape! Put away your wand! You're a Slytherine prefect, you shouldn't be fighting. Neither should you two, I'll have to take you to Professor MacGonagall for this." Lily continued to verbally berate us for fighting, sliding us a wink when we were about to protest. "You three, gather your friends here and get to the hospital wing, go on!" Lily turned to Snape, Narcissa, and the now conscious Malfoy. "Get moving!"

Narcissa rolled her eyes, flicked her hair over her shoulder, turned, and walked away. Snape enervated Rodalphus and Bella and the three followed Narcissa. Malfoy pulled himself from the floor, wiping his still bleeding nose on the back of his hand. "You'll pay for this you little bitch. You better watch your back, you half-blood!" Malfoy walked backwards a couple of steps, glaring pointedly at Becca and I, then turned and followed his friends down the hall in the opposite direction from the hospital wing. They must realize the trouble they'll be in for fighting if they go there.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Becca rolled her eyes, then flinched, cupping her left eye with her hand.

"So you didn't escape unscathed I see." I said.

"Malfoy landed a lucky blow, he was flailing wildly. People tend to land lucky punches when the flail wildly." Becca shrugged it off and turned into the light at Lily's urging.

"Let me see it. Good, just a black eye, no broken cheek bone. I can fix this up in a jiffy." Lily pulled out her wand and waved it over Becca's face "_Episkey!_" Becca's black eye faded away slowly under Lily's glowing wand point.

"Good job." I said. "I see you've been looking up some healing spells."

"Yeah, and you're next."

"But I'm not injured."

"Who said I was going to heal you. I'm going to take you to the library to study."

"Er... I'm busy?"

"Doing what?"

"Er... Stuff?"

"With who?"

"Er... Becca?"

"No you're not. I'm working on a project with Rebby." Becca shook her head when Lily looked at her, and when she looked away Becca stuck out her tongue at me.

"Er... With Sirius then, I thought Becca was going to be there too, but it's just me and Sirius I guess..."

"Right. Well. Since you're doing stuff with Sirius all afternoon and don't have time to study with me, I guess we'll just have to study alone in a quiet corner of the library some other time." Lily gave me a smirk and a wink, then turned and flounced off in the direction of the library.

That was an invitation if I've ever heard one.

"Wait! Lily! Sirius and I can do that thing we were gonna do later, after we study. I mean, grades are more important, right?"

"Yes, of course James." Lily rolled her eyes and kept on walking. "See you later Becca!" She waved back at Becca.

"See ya Becca!" I gave her a head nod.

"So, about this studying... What subject are we covering again?" I raised an eyebrow at Lily as she eyed me mischievously.

"Depends. What would you like to study?"

Who would have thought Lily could be the mysterious kind of sexy?

I ran along the hallway towards the Great Hall where I had told Lily and James I was going to work on a project with Rebby, then I cut back towards the Gryffindor Tower. When I reached the portrait hole I yelled the password and jogged in, up the stairs to my dorm room, and dropped my school bag on the ground, hefting a light, dark purple and black back pack instead. I took off again, running until I reached a secret side door to the castle grounds that no one else knew about. The door opened to a forgotten garden on the opposite side of the castle from the Herbology greenhouses.

Now, my mother has always loved gardening and such and as a child she forced me to help her pull weeds and turn over mulch and plant everything from zucchini to roses in her little gardens and flower beds. Myself, I prefer a nice spot in the cool shade where I can read to a day getting baked in the hot sun trying not to be stabbed by little thorns on the rose bushes and poke-y things on the weeds. The point is, the last place anyone would ever think to find me is an overgrown garden with lots of weeds to be pulled, especially if I was actually pulling them of my own free will.

I had, of course, learned how to pull weeds by magic, and had learned to do so in this very garden. It had been the point of coming here once or twice a week last spring before I went home. Because both of my parents do magic no one at the ministry is going to notice a minor house keeping spell like one for pulling weeds, especially since I figured out how to disable the ministries wand tracking system ages ago. At least I refer to it as a wand tracking system. Really what they do is cast a spell that monitors wand use and lets them know of magic turning up in unusual places, like muggle neighborhoods with no known wizards in residence, or the use of magic illegally. The problem is they have to investigate each spell separately to find out who cast it and that takes a while, so instead they only investigate the out of place spells and such.

I tossed my bag onto an old mossy wood and iron bench and went about cleaning up the over grown flower beds, turning over the mulch and removing all weeds. I then gave the grass the once over, trimming it all down to the same approximate size. Lastly I cast my wand in the direction of a small fish pond that contained no fish and cleaned it of mold.

With the chores finished, I took up my bag and sat down on the bench, taking a moment to bask in the warm glow of the sun. It was still winter and quite cold outside, but the little garden's previous owner had put a spell on it that allowed it to remain warm like late spring all year round. In the winter it was very amusing because when the snow fell the heating spell had no effect on the snow until it hit the ground, so I could stand in a nice warm garden, surrounded by green plants and blooming flowers, and catch snowflakes on my tongue.

I reached into my bag and pulled out my sketchbook and my graded pencils and started drawing one of the roses in the garden. I heard a bird call over head and looked up to see one of the few birds who were smart enough to realize that this particular garden stayed warm year round with plenty of food for them. The bird, I'm not sure what type it was, chirruped again and I was suddenly struck by a memory of a few days ago when Sirius had taken me to his island. We had gotten back together then and I have every intention of keeping it that way. I just hope nothing else happens to make me feel otherwise, I have enough stress to deal with as it is.

The bird took flight into the cool winter air above the garden, off to stretch it's wings or forage in the school greenhouses for food no doubt. I turned back to my drawing, tossing my worries from my mind and instead contemplating why I couldn't get the durn shading right on one particular rose petal.

"I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts, duddle-dee-dum, there they are standing in a row, bum-bum-bum, big ones, small ones, ones as big as your head..."

"Rebby, if you don't stop singing that song I'll be forced to walk a good four feet behind you to keep people from thinking we are friends."

"We're not friends?" I gave Sirius a pout-y look.

"Sure, we're friends," Sirius smiled at me cheekily "as long as you don't sing that song around me in public."

"Well aren't you nice." I rolled my eyes at him and hummed the tune instead. The blasted song had been stuck in my head for a couple of days now.

"Where are we going again?" Sirius asked, irritated and impatient.

"We are going to do some bonding. You're dating my best friend. Your best friend is dating my other best friend. And your other best friend is dating one of my other friends. I think it's about time we did some bonding. You know, find out a bit more about each other."

"So, why haven't James or Remus been drug out in the cold to 'bond' with you?"

"Because they have appointments later this week to do some bonding, though I don't think they actually know that..."

"I see... And you're sure Becca doesn't mind?"

"It was Becca's idea. Something about she wanted some alone time to think things over. She's been quite busy recently, what with school and you and her family and the study group. Plus she's applying to an art camp this summer; it's crazy hard competition to get in from what I hear."

"Oh, so where are we going?"

"The quidditch pitch. There's an enclosed portion of the stands for guests to stand in in the winter. It's heated and has some of the most comfortable squishy armchairs I've ever had the pleasure of napping in."

"Got it. So what does the bonding entail?"

"Talking mainly."

"Alright then..."

I led Sirius up to the guest box and turned the heat up once I had closed the door behind us. I took off my coat and tossed it on a hook by the door then flipped my shoes off as well, leaving them in a heap by the door.

"Bonsai!" I said, hopping onto one of the couches and nearly bouncing Sirius off the other side.

"So what are we going to talk about?" Sirius asked me, a note of amusement on his face.

I settled my self into a chair across from him and put on the most serious face I could and asked "I want to know one thing in particular: what are your intentions with my best friend?"

Sirius stared at me blankly. He blinked, once, twice, thrice. Then he cracked a smile. Next he began to laugh at me, as if it had been a joke.

"No, really, what are your intentions?" I asked again.

"Who started the second goblin revolt?"

"Do we really have to study this stuff? I already know it all from class. And you know it all because I've already quizzed you 80 or 90 times... Can't we, I dunno, go for a walk or snog one another senseless for a while instead?"

"Nice try James, but we need to study more." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Oh, come on, we could go find that rug closet again and-"

"NO! I mean, er... Fine, we can stop studying, but no snogging in rug closets."

James looked positively giddy. He was like a kid on Christmas morning. He jumped from his spot at the library table, gathered his books in one swoop, tossed them into his bag, threw the bag over his shoulder and looked at me expectantly. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"The tornado caused by your quick movements to subside."

James rolled his eyes at me. The more time we spent together the more of my traits he was picking up, the eye rolling for instance. "Well, get a move on. Maybe we can still make it in time."

"Make where in time for what?"

"Actually it's 'Make what in time for who?' but that's not the point. The point is for you to get your cute booty out of your seat, get your stuff, and hurry up!"

"Pushy, pushy. No denying the testosterone there." I stood and gathered my belongings, put them in my bag, then followed the overly excited James into the hallway where he practically danced around me as he led me in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower. "Where are we going again? And for what reason?"

"You'll see." James slid me a mischievous smile.

Uh-oh. Here comes trouble.

As I exited my secret hideaway I sighed and tried in vain to wipe the smudges of pencils from my fingers onto my jeans. I had walked maybe halfway down the hall when Remus popped out behind a corner, held out an arm, and made a sweeping bow.

"M'lady, I am to escort you to a meeting." he said, standing up straight again.

"Haha, nice Remus... What meeting?"

"A secret one."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"A secret meeting about what?"

"A secret meeting about secret stuff."

"Is this secret meeting about secret stuff going to take long, I'm supposed to meet Sirius later."

"Sirius will be at the secret meeting."

"Well, that's nice... Who else is going to be at this secret meeting?"

"Lily, Rebby, Peter, James, Sirius, you, me."

"Ah, I assume then that this secret meeting is about the secret stuff that was discussed in secret in a not so secret empty classroom on the seventh floor?"

"Yes."

"Oh goody!" what? You don't follow the conversation? I mean, makes perfect sense to me. We're going to a meeting with the aforementioned people about becoming animagus. How could you not figure that out? "So which oh so secret room are we going to have this oh so secret meeting in?"

"In the same oh so secret room we use for our oh so secret study group."

"Cool."

"Yup."

"Yup."

We walked in awkward silence for a while. In the time it took us to walk up to the Room of Requirements I thought about the awkward silence and realized that Remus and I didn't talk nearly enough. I know next to nothing about the guy. All I know is he likes to read and he's cute and he's the only thing keeping James and Sirius from serious trouble, if you'll pardon the unintentional pun.

"So, who's your favorite author?"

"Jeremy Douglas."

"Never heard of him."

"He's a little known wizard author. He writes mostly science fiction stuff."

"Fun. My favorite author is either Janet Evanovich or Ken Follet, they're both pretty good. Both muggle authors though."

"I think I've heard of Ken Follet. What's your favorite of his books?"

"Definitely either Code to Zero or Jackdaws, they're about espionage kind of stuff during World War II and the Space Race... Some pretty interesting stuff."

"Yeah, I'll have to borrow one of his books from you sometime."

"No problem, I have a ton of books in my dorm. I keep having my mum ship me a couple of books at a time when I think of one I want to read. I'd like to borrow one of Jeremy Douglas's books as well, science fiction books aren't my favorite, but they are pretty amusing. I prefer science fiction movies and television to books. The Sci-Fi channel is my favorite TV. Channel."

"Yeah, I don't watch much TV., but I catch reruns of Dr. Who on occasion."

"That show's pretty awesome."

"Yeah, it rocks."

"Kinda' sucks they ended the series."

"Yeah, I wish they hadn't but yeah..."

We continued talking about science fiction shows on TV. For a while, then talked about the cheesy science fiction movies we've seen. When we reached the door to the Room of Requirement it was too soon.

"Welcome to the Marauders School of Animagus Training for Girls. I'm the Headmaster, Remus Lupin, and-"

"Wait, I thought I was the Headmaster?"

"No, Sirius, you're the Head Character Trait and Animagus Form Coordinator., Remus is the Headmaster, and I'm the Head Tutor in the Technique of Transition, Transformation, and Transfiguration."

"Oh, right, I knew that... What's Peter?"

"Peter is officially M.I.A. On this one."

"Where'd he go?"

"No clue."

"Hey, shut up, I'm trying to teach the girls how to turn into animagi here!" Remus said, smacking James and Sirius in the back of the head at the same time. Turning to us he said "Honestly, they're usually much more professional about this, believe it or not. Now, becoming an animagi is a difficult process, but I found a way to make it easier, by breaking it down into steps. You see, the book I found in the library that explains it is old-"

"Old doesn't even describe it." Sirius commented snidely.

"More like decrepit. The thing was in old English and the pages were falling apart. Literally turning into dust, that thing was." James added.

"When I found out the boys were trying to learn to be animagi and had spent about a year trying to decipher the first page of this book, I decided what we needed to do first was write the instructions in easy to read modern English. We came up with this list here." Remus waved around a small bound red book with parchment pages. The cover said, in loopy gold writing, _The Marauders Guide to Becoming and Animagi_. "Now, you're going to pair off with each of us and work on the first few steps, okay? Each of us is a little better at different parts of the process, so you'll rotate once you've grasped the step you're working on. Lily, you're with Sirius, Becca with James, Rebby with me." with that the six of us paired off into the three groups, Rebby and Remus walked over to a couple of desks to work on their part, James and Becca slumped in a corner lazily and started working on theirs, and Sirius and I ended up in the windowsill bench seat.

"So, what exactly does the Head Character Trait and Animagus Form Coordinator do?" I asked him.

"I help you coordinate your animagus form with your character traits of course."

"Yes, and that makes so much sense..."

"Well, you see, one doesn't choose their animagus form exactly. You see, your animagus form depends on your personality, your character traits, who you are at the core. James is a stag, stag symbolize pride, among other things, which James just happens to have a lot of. Mine is a dog, something like a cross between a black lab and a grim. Dogs symbolize loyalty, grims death, both of which have a lot to o with my life. Make sense so far?"

"Yes, but you said that 'one doesn't choose their animagus form _exactly_', what do you mean by 'not exactly'?"

"Well, you don't choose them, they choose you, like a wand kind of. Whether you except them or not is your choice, but you only get one chance."

"How is that possible? How can an animagus form choose anything?"

"Well, they are part of you, a small part of you that you bring out when you become an animagi. Becoming an animagi is like enhancing that part of yourself, and in the best of cases, turning it into a source of strength and power, something you can depend on and utilize in the best way possible."

"I see." I let this sink in. What would be my strength? My personality trait that stood out strongest? What animal form would choose me? And most of all, would I except it? "So, what exactly are we going to do now then?"

"We're going to make a list of your character traits and allow you to familiarize yourself with them. You see, the book says that in order to except your animagus form, you have to be completely at ease with yourself, with your inner workings. You have to understand yourself better than anything else in the world. You have to understand what fuels you and what your priorities are and where you stand on the most basic of levels."

"So we're going to evaluate my character?"

"We're going to help you become more familiar with it, yes."

"And this is your area of expertise?"

"What can I say? I'm a good judge of character, it's a gift and a curse." Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "Now," he pulled his legs underneath himself, sitting Indian style, and took out a quill and a piece of parchment "first we are going to make a list of your character traits, all of them, and I think we'll start with-"

"-bookworm. Sometimes I just can't figure out which of you is worse, Lily, Becca, or yourself. Honestly, between homework, being a werewolf, studying, becoming animagus-

"I'm not an animagus."

"-and tutoring I haven't a clue where you have had the time to read anything. I mean, really, do you ever sleep? Where do you find the hours to-

"Rebby, can we focus here a little?"

"-do everything you do and then read for pleasure as well? I can barely handle my social life and homework and quidditch, much less-"

"REBBY!"

"Huh?"

"We need to get to work, I have to explain all of the steps to you and familiarize you with all of them. When you go to perform the spell the first time it's highly ritualistic and if everything isn't exact the results can be less than promising. It's part of the reason why students aren't allowed to just go haring off and learn to become animagi, part of the reason it's illegal to attempt it without notifying the ministry, because the repercussions sometimes effect not only the person attempting the process, but also everyone else."

"Oh." Well dang, give me the 'the things you do effect others' speech again please, I haven't heard it enough from my mother.

"Now, what we need to do is go through it step by step a few times until you've memorized the procedure. Then I'll start explaining the ritual to you, have you memorize that, then have you practice setting up for the ritual, practice saying the ancient words, so that when you actually perform it, you'll be-"

"Ready yet?"

"Nope, I want to finish my chocolate bar first. Want a piece?"

"No, I want you to finish the damn thing so we can get started already." James said irritatedly. I chewed faster, swallowed, and took another bite of my chocolate bar.

"Yeah, yeah. What are we going to do anyways?"

"We're going to practice your transfiguration until it's smooth enough for you to be able to manage this spell. Becoming an animagus is 60 transfiguration you know."

"And the other 40?"

"60 transfiguration, 20 charm, 15 spell, 4 ritual and 1 other."

" 'Other' being?"

" 'Other' being a combination of heart, soul, the knowledge of one's mind, body and spirit, and the courage to go through with it. Now, we'll start by practicing transfiguration of inanimate objects into other inanimate objects. This match into a needle first."

We spent the better part of the day working on our separate portions of the preparations. We finally broke for dinner when Sirius's stomach growled loud enough that it echoed through the noisy room like a gong that's been beaten by a weight lifting Olympic champion.

After dinner we all agreed to meet the next day to work on the animagus spell some more. None of us had completed their first little step yet, though I was further ahead of the others having memorized the spell. I speak 5 languages nearly fluently, two fluently, so pronunciation was easy for me and memorization has become a strong suit for me as well from writing so much. You see, when you write, you have to edit and edit and edit and edit until everything is just right, so when you have to keep reading things like that it's easier to just commit things to memory so that you can find the correct portion to go back and fix faster. Call it a gift if you like, I call it training. The point is, I finished memorizing the first part of the spell. The bad news was that there were five more parts to memorize before all was finished and we switched partners.

Lily and Sirius had apparently argued ceaselessly about her part of the spell while Remus had spent the entire time trying to force Rebby to pay attention while he explained the different steps to the ritual. I pitied them and wouldn't trade places for the world. That is, I wouldn't trade places with Sirius and Remus, I don't envy them their jobs.

The next evening was more productive, Lily and I had given Rebby a smack on the back of the head to make her focus and she learnt the majority of the ritual that night. I memorized the first, second, and third parts of the spell and managed to put the first and second together and half of the third. Go me. Lily managed to swallow her pride long enough to finish the list of her character traits and then whittle it down to the twenty most prominent.

For the next week we worked non-stop. Monday we got up early to finish homework, went to classes, did more homework, had quidditch practice, then worked on the animagi stuff. Tuesday was the same. Wednesday we traded out the animagi stuff for the study group. Thursday we traded out quidditch for the animagi stuff. Friday we had study hall after lunch and did homework during that and then had quidditch, then animagi stuff, then study group, then more animagi stuff. By the time the week was out we were all exhausted. And the good news was, we did this for another month before we got the reprieve of Christmas break. Not to mention we were finally at a level in all of our sections that the boys found acceptable for switching to another part. Peter had joined us every now and then during the lessons, but had always left early claiming to be bored.

With the winter vacation fast approaching everyone not in the student government received a pleasant surprise. A week before classes ended Lily and Remus announced, with the help of the fifth year prefects and seventh year prefects, that there was to be a Yule Ball again this year the night before the train left. It was for the 3rd through 7th years only. This of course caused very few of the students to be able to pay attention and stay on task in classes. That Friday there was to be a trip to Hogsmeade as well for the students and then on Saturday night was the ball. Most classes Friday morning were let out early or simply canceled because none of the students could contain their excitement. The ones that weren't out early or canceled were simply put to the task of silent study hall until the bell rang.

I had a free period first on Fridays and second I had Defense, but Professor Emling let us out early after realizing she would be less likely to control our class, containing the Marauders, 14 squealing 6th year girls, and 8 other 6th year boys who were just as much trouble this day as the Marauders were usually, than she would have been to control her first period class of excited 3rd years. And so, with a roll of her eyes and a promise of a 18 parchment essay on what we've learned so far due after the break, let us out of class early.

My friends and I made plans to get our money and empty our back packs and meet at the Great huge double doors in fifteen minutes, then raced off to do just that. Rebby, Lily and I aren't particularly fond of shopping, but sometimes it's just too much fun to resist, especially when we were going to a ball and, for once, all had dates. I was going with Sirius, Lily with James (BIG shock there), Remus with Rach, Rebby with, erm, well she wouldn't tell us, but she claimed he was hot and a surprise for us. Win, Will, Mickey, Peter, and Matt had all found dates too, though Win and my brother Caleb had broken up (thank Merlin!) and would be hanging out with their dates friends at the ball for the most part. Actually, they had been hanging out with other people more and more, and with us less and less recently...

Anyways, the seven of us met at the doors and walked to Hogsmeade for our shopping excursion.

Yippy! Shopping! Kill me now!


	25. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

"So what are you doing for Christmas holidays?" Rebby asked me. We, Rach, Rebby and I, had broken off from the guys and Becca, who said that if they did anymore shopping for the moment they would have to shoot themselves in the head then jump off a very large cliff while beating themselves over the head with a large rock.

Well, Becca said that, but the guys nodded in agreement and went off to the Three Broomsticks with her while the rest of us girls kept looking for dresses. Rebby and I didn't really want to be shopping either but, unlike Becca who had found the perfect dress instantly and bought it without a second thought of trying any others, we had yet to find the perfect dress, or any dress really, to wear to the ball. Rach on the other hand had found about a million, then found a million more in every shop we tried. Apparently she was having fun trying on dress after dress after dress. Quite unusual; she never liked shopping either.

"I'm not sure really. I'm supposed to be going home to see my family, but I'd rather not, they're a pain in the buttocks. My mother and Father and always running around saying 'my baby girl is so special, my baby girl is so brilliant' to their neighbors and friends and business associates and telling them how I go to this school for gifted children, child prodigies if you will, hidden away in northern Britain. When I'm alone with them they treat me like a third shoe, useless because there's only two feet. My sister does nothing but scowl at me when my parents blather on about how brilliant I am and ignore me when they aren't unless some sudden wind of kindness crosses her and then she tries to be nice, but we have nothing to talk about that doesn't make her angry or jealous or envious or make me the same." I shook my head in disappointment. "Honestly, spending time with my family is the last thing I would call a vacation or a holiday. How about you?" I asked Rebby back, holding up a purple dress I had found to see if she approved of it.

"Oh, I'm off to see my parents as well, all four of them." she gave me the 'it's okay' sign with her hand, flattening her hand horizontally, palm facing down, and rocking it back and forth as if to say 'either or'. "Becca's parents are like my own, I've known them for so long, so I'll be going to visit hers first with her, then she'll be coming with me to see mine."

"Well that's fun, it's always good to see someone with a proper family." Rach walked up behind me while I spoke.

"How about this one?" she asked, holding up a blue dress "or this one, or this? Maybe this one?" she held out about six or seven other dresses of varying colors.

"Um, Rach, what gives? Why are you so Pro-shopping today?"

"I don't know, just, in the mood I guess." she said, wiggling a yellow dress at Rebby only to receive a gagging gesture in response from her.

"Would this happen to have anything to do with one Remus J. Lupin?"

"It i_might/i_." she replied giving me a wink and running off to try on a couple of the dresses she had picked out.

"Well, that's interesting." I replied, smiling. But my smile only lasted until she turned away. After that, a frown stuck it's place on my face instead. I turned to Rebby and said "Remus needs to tell her, soon."

"Hm?" Rebby cocked an eyebrow at me, 'tell her what?' it said.

"He needs to tell her about his furry little secret, and soon."

"What for?"

"Didn't you see the look on her face? She doesn't just like him anymore, she's fully and completely smitten, head over heels in love, that girl is. He needs to tell her before she finds out he's been hiding it from her on her own and crash lands in a mine field."

"Oh." Rebby looked a tad depressed at this notion.

"I've got an idea. I'm going to go and find the guys and Becca, have a quick word with them, then pop back over and meet you all, and bring the guys with me. We'll meet you at the next store, I don't see anything I really like here anyways. Keep Rach busy while I'm gone, we don't want her suspecting anything now do we?"

"But, hey! How come I can't be the one to go and talk to him! Hey! Come back here! This isn't fair!" Rebby yelled out the door after me as I sprinted towards the tavern.

It only took me about ten minutes to get there, it was relatively close and I'm a relatively fast runner. I burst through the doors out of breath, dashed over to the table surrounded by a swarm of girls and shoved my way through them. Then I plopped down on James's lap and drank his entire glass of butterbeer before any of them had a chance to say 'hello, how do you do' or in James's case-

"Hey! I was going to drink that you know!"

"Yeah, well, you'll live." I turned to the swarm of girls trying to drag Sirius, Remus, and James off into dark corners to snog them senseless, or something to that extent, and got ready to say something to them that was going to be relatively scathing to get them to vamoose, but Becca got to it first.

"Scram you bunch of blood sucking sluts, I'm not in the mood." She growled, shoving her way through the mass of girls, not caring if she elbowed them in the face or stomach or 'accidentally' poked the one trying to physically removed Sirius from his seat in the eye. The girls all gave her the evil eye and glowered and mumbled at her, but she turned and gave them a stern glare and literally i_growled_/i at them, a deep guttural growl that you'd hear from an extremely angry wild dog with rabies, and that was enough to make a few turn white and the entirety of them run away scared.

"You've learned well my young grass hopper." Sirius said, bowing at the waist to her, a difficult feat when one is sitting on a bar stool.

"She didn't learn that from you, she learned it from the pack of wolves she grew up with," I said, rolling my eyes "By which I mean her male cousins. But really, she's been doing that, growling at people that is, as long as I've known her. It's her thing. When she's angry, she either growls a bit and swallows it, just swallows it, or when she's truly pissed off she loses her temper and, well, you know what happens then." I said, eyeing Becca nervously. She'd been a bit touchy about her temper recently.

Sirius shuddered violently "Don't remind me. Never making her angry again in my life, let me tell you."

"So did you find a dress?" Becca asked, not showing any sign of hearing our previous conversation.

"Nope, took a short break to come over here and tell Remus that he needs to fess up to Rach soon before she starts hearing wedding bells and gets her heart ripped out when she finds out from someone else about his furry little problem." I gave him a stern glance. He paled a bit and nodded wearily. "Plus Rach has gone shopping crazy, for you may I add Remus, and it's driving me bonkers. She's actually having fun at it. I left Rebby with her all alone, but promised to return with reinforcements."

"Reinforcements?" James asked, looking at me over my shoulder "Is that all we are to you? Shopping reinforcements?"

"Right now, yes." I smiled at him, gave him a peck on the lips, then jumped off his lap and dragged him, Becca and Remus towards the door. "Take care of the bill, won't you Sirius?" I called over my shoulder. We all knew perfectly well that Sirius was filthy stinking rich and could handle it on his own. Besides, it was amusing to see him sitting there confused while the rest of us ran out of the store without him "Meet us at the little blue dress shop two lanes down, alright? Ta darling!" I yelled just as I ran through the door and down the street, the other three in front of me laughing as much as I was at Sirius's befuddled expression.

Ten minutes later Sirius found us at the dress store where Rach had finally decided on a dress and bought it and Becca had found some shoes and a cape. She had everything wrapped up in black plastic dress bags and refused to let any of the guys, especially Sirius, see it. Rebby found a dress at the next shop and I found one at the shop after that. With a second visit to a couple of the other shops we had gone in earlier we accumulated those little things that were needed to go with the dress, like shoes and capes and jewelry and such. Becca disappeared from our group at some point and came back with another black bag, though what was inside was a mystery to us since she refused to tell anyone what it was.

The guys had bought their dress robes or tuxedos or whatever earlier on their way to the Three Broomsticks apparently, so our shopping excursion was now complete. We decided to head back to the castle just as it started getting dark. The walk was long but made shorter by Sirius and James's lovely gift of butterbeer, a bottle for each of us, that they bought when we passed by the tavern and distributed as we walked. Though the butter beer wasn't enough to make any of us truly drunk or anything, it did make us all lighter of mood, the result being that by the time we reached the castle grounds we were all laughing like hyenas and nearly falling over ourselves. We walked up to the Gryffindor tower, still laughing, and inside the commons made plans to meet over by the window seat before the ball tomorrow. Then the girls and I ran up the stairs to figure out how we were going to do our hair and make last minute adjustments on our dresses.

"I'm a pretty pretty purple prince-princess!"

"Your dress is blue." Lily pointed out.

"Oh, so tis." I looked down at my dress and then, stretching out my arms, I spun round and round again, making the large skirt of my dress float out in the air and smack Lily in the face.

"Ow." she said glaring at me.

"Oops. Sorry bout that, my skirt's bigger than anticipated." I smiled at her cheekily.

"How very unfortunate for you." she replied, rolling her eyes.

"So what's in that bag? The little black one?" Rebby asked picking up the bag and pretending like she was going to look inside.

"Nothing!" Becca snatched the bag away from her and stuck it down the front of her dress.

"Anyone want to volunteer to go and get that from her?" Rebby asked the entire room.

"Um, no."

"Not really."

"How about... Not."

"Why don't you do it Rebby, she's your, what did you call it 'twin from another mother', you go and get it."

"Er... No thanks, I think I'll pass... Too easily misconstrued."

"Well then, if you're not going to make an attempt to get the bag from me, I'm going to go change back into my pajamas." I said, grabbing her night clothes and walking towards the bathroom.

"Me too, I'm tired." Lily said, yawning as she picked up her pajamas as well.

"Well, I think they're going to make us go to bed as well. So much for a fun night."

"Oh, shush, you're getting up early tomorrow anyways to help decorate." I said, coming back out of the bathroom in my p.j. Pants and baggy t-shirt.

"Um... We are?" asked Mickey, a puzzled look on her face.

"Well of course you are, because you're good friends." I nodded my head insolemn agreement with my statement.

"Er... Do we have to be good friends tomorrow? Can we be good friends for the clean up?" Win asked.

"Why?" I was curious now, usually they would just sort of sigh and agree.

"Well, you see, Win and I have an appointment to get our hair and makeup done tomorrow for the ball and so..." Mickey trailed off.

"Oh." What the? Since when do they two of them plan these things and not invite us along? Odd... "Well then, you get to do clean up I guess. Everyone else is helping decorate though!" I gave Rebby and Rach a glare that told them they had no possible way of escaping their fate, then hopped into bed. "Now, all of you, off to bed."

"Becca's right, it's bed time." Lily waved her wand at the ceiling and the lights all went out.

"Lights out!" I called.

There was a small chorus of indignant 'hey!'-s and 'lily!'-s, then a loud _thump!_ and "Ow! You know a little warning, perhaps the lights out thing before the lights actually went out, would have been bloody nice!" Rebby growled. I heard her hop towards the bathroom and chuckled as I rolled over, put a pillow over my head, and drifted off to sleep.


	26. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"Why do girls always find it necessary to make a big entrance when we have a ball?"

"They like to show off their dresses Sirius." James replied absent mindedly. He was a little nervous, this being his first i_real_/i date and Ball with Lily, the love of his life, as he reminds us constantly.

"But don't they do that just by wearing them?" I asked.

"Yes, but they want to make sure you notice and comment on them." Remus said impatiently. He was a little distracted too, but for different reasons. He was going to pop the question tonight. No, not i_that_/i question. He was going to pop another question important enough to refer to as 'the question'. I just hope he knows what he's doing.

"Well, of course we'll notice and comment on them, we wouldn't make very good dates if we didn't now would we?"

"Nope, they're making it idiot proof." Said Matt. He was taking one of the girls in 5th year and had decided to wait with us for his date.

"Oh, I see."

"Took you long enough." Caleb, Becca's younger brother, was now standing behind me.

"Whoa, where did you come from?" sneaky little bugger, he is.

"Just came down from the dorms. Wonder if I could hang out with you all while I wait for my date?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure." James wagged his hand at Caleb's request like it was a pesky little fly he was shooing away.

"Sweet." Caleb slipped off his black suit jacket and tossed it over the back of the couch, then took a seat. He actually cleans up nice apparently. He had abandoned his usual ripped jeans, skate brand t-shirt, beat up converses, and shaggy hair cut for a black tuxedo with a green dress shirt and black shoes and tie. He had gelled up his hair and, dear Merlin, he'd gotten a hair cut. The only remnant of his usual punk self was the fact that instead of wearing black dress shoes with his suit, as one would expect, he was wearing brand new black converses with green laces. How very Christmas-y of him.

"Nice shoes." I said raising an eyebrow.

"They're more comfortable. Besides, even if the date doesn't pan out, I get new shoes out of it."

"Good plan." I nodded my head in agreement "Who's your date anyways?"

"Well, actually it's-"

"Here they come!" James hissed as both he and Remus stood from the couch and brushed off their suits. James's was the traditional, black with white dress shirt and a creme colored vest and black tie. Remus's was also a black suit with white dress shirt and black tie, but he wasn't wearing a vest.

"I don't understand why you guys are all so nervous, it's just another ball." honestly they were all acting like third years at their first ball. I can't figure out why either, it's just one more ball, not like there haven't been others and won't be-

"Damn." Remus was looking at the stairs. A pair of long legs were desending the stairs, feet in two high heeled white shoes, then came the hem of a dress. By the time Rach, because it had been Rach coming down the stairs first, reached the bottom of the stairs Remus was nearly bursting with joy, and I don't think it was because he had gotten an A on our last Charms test. Rach was wearing a light pink dress that reached her ankles in the back and the top of her calves in the front. The straps were spaghetti string leading into a v-neck front. She wore her hair up in a loose bun with a couple of hairs falling down around her face with a soft wave. Her jewelry was silver: dangly silver earrings with little diamonds in them, silver tennis bracelet, and silver necklace with a diamond pendant that rested just below her collar bone. If Remus wasn't in love before, he was now. Wordlessly she held out her hand and he took it in his own, gave the rest of us chums a smile of pure bliss, then walked off to the Ball with her.

All I want to know is how the hell he knew she was the first one coming down the stairs.

The next to come down was Lily, She descended just after Rach's feet hit the floor, so when James, Matt, Caleb and I dragged our heads back round, it was to find Lily standing at the bottom of the stairs already. She was wearing a cream colored, form fitting dress made of smooth silk that just barely touched the floor, hiding her four inch cream colored heels. The fabric was pulled so that in the v-neck chest met in the center at an emerald broach that matched her vivid green eyes. Her earrings were also emerald and gold, her necklace a simple gold chain with a little gold heart pendant with a tiny emerald at the center. On her right hand she wore a gold ring with an emerald set in it. Her hair was down and straight, falling lightly around her shoulders, face and back. James's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw her and I swear I saw him wipe some drool off the corner of his mouth before he managed to say "Lily, you look beautiful tonight, simply gorgeous." with the biggest happiest smile on his face I have ever seen.

"Thank you James. You look quite handsome yourself." she smiled back at him.

"Shall we?" he extended his arm for her, and she took it.

"Yes, but in a moment, I promised I'd wait for Rebby and Becca down here." Lily said. "I think Rebby's coming down next, she was having a bit of trouble getting down the stairs in her heels. They're as tall as mine with a thinner heel. Could be trouble."

Caleb, who had been half sitting on the arm of the couch, stood up now and, picking up his suit jacket, threw it over one shoulder and held it there with a finger. He just thinks he's so cool.

I was about to mention to him about how he thinks he's so cool when we all heard a quick succession of thumps and a small yelp. We all stopped for a moment, the thought 'she fell down the stairs' sinking into our brains before we all rushed to the bottom of the stairs to make sure she was all right. Caleb was the first there and also the first to realize that she was fine. Rebby hadn't fallen down the stairs, her purse had committed suicide and fallen to the bottom of the stairs. She was a bit shaky in her heels though, so Caleb helped her navigate the remaining five or six steps, guiding her upper body with her hand in his. When she reached the bottom step we all realized the same thing at about the same time: Rebby and Caleb matched. Much like James's cream vest matched Lily's cream dress, Caleb's deep green dress shirt matched Rebby's deep green, strapless, floor length, wrap around dress with a little flower pattern in one corner in a dark colored glitter. Her shoes were black and her purse, retrieved from the floor gallantly by Caleb, was also black, as was her wrap. She had on silver jewelry and her hair was half up, half down with the top layer pulled back into a silver barrette and the bottom layers curving around her shoulders and back.

Caleb was very happy about her dress. The rest of us were still in shock that it matched Caleb's suit.

"Wait, so you two are going together? Or is this just one of those weird coincidences?" James asked.

"We're going together." Rebby smiled at him.

"Really? Huh." James scratched his chin and looked pensive while Lily rolled her eyes at him and gave Rebby a knowing wink. Hmmm... There was going to be some girl talk tonight. Note to self, steer clear of the girl talk.

"They're what?" Becca had come down the stairs while we were all gazing in shock at Rebby and Caleb. "You two are going together?" she looked more stunned than we did.

Caleb adopted a defensive stance "So what if we are?"

"Erm..." Was all Rebby had to say.

"Well, if you are, then I leave you with this one warning: You break her heart and I'll beat you into the ground. And you know I can too." She gave her brother one final glare, then turned, smilingly, to face me.

Yes, me, her date... Now if only I could remember my name...

Becca look amazing. She was wearing a dark blue gown, not a dress, a gown, like with the big fluffy skirt you know? Anyways, she was wearing a floor length gown, dark blue layered over a shiny white material so that at the chest the dark blue met like a v-neck, but the white went straight across, and at the front of the skirt the dark blue separated to reveal another, larger V of the white material. The top was corseted with wide straps in the bark blue material that draped over the outsides of her shoulders and were meant more for decoration than holding up the dress. The tail of the dress was studded with tiny little diamonds starting with a few here and there at the bottom of the laced back, then growing more dense as they trailed to the bottom of the skirt. She wore a silver necklace with a sapphire pendant with a little diamond above the sapphire, silver earrings that matched the necklace, a silver bracelet charm bracelet she had made herself, and a silver ring on her left middle finger with a sapphire accompanied by two little diamonds, on her right hand her grandmothers silver ring with the aquamarine stone that she never took off. On the wrist that didn't have a bracelet she a silver watch and on each of her arms she wore black elbow length gloves that matched her black high heeled shoes and her black purse. She had her hair pulled to the side in a ponytail of big loose curls, the long bang like hairs that usually hugged her face were pinned to the side, just above her ear, by two large silver bobby pins. The banglets, as Becca referred to the, were really wavy, and a couple of loose hairs fell on the left side of her face, opposite the ponytail and banglets, that waved in much the same fashion balancing it out.

"Uh... I... You... Damn." was all I managed to work out. I had begun mentally berating myself for being to stupid when Becca laughed lightly at me.

"Thank you Sirius, your speechlessness says it all." she rolled her eyes smiled happily. "Oh! I nearly forgot! You all wanted to know what was in the little black bag, didn't you?"

We all nodded yes or, in Rebby's case, stumbled forward excitedly and nearly fell off our heels while trying to bob our heads to fast.

"Well, here it is!" Becca pulled a little silver tiara out of her purse and waved it about at us. "Really, it isn't that big of a deal, I just thought it was funny you were all falling all over yourselves trying to figure out what it was." Becca took the little silver tiara with the little diamonds on it and placed it on her head. Then pulled out a compact mirror and checked it's placement and to make sure she hadn't messed up her hair in doing so, then snapped the compact shut and smiled at us. "We ready to go yet?"

"Uh..." I was still staring at her like she was an alien and I know understood why the guy had been so nervous, the girls were dressing up for us, not for the ball. Becca had dressed up for i_me_/i not for the ball, and that just made my amazement at her appearance even greater. "Yeah, sure, let's go." I finally managed, taking Becca's hand in mine and walking towards the portrait hole, never once taking my eyes off of her.

How in the hell did I ever get so lucky?

We walked down to the Great Hall where the Yule Ball was being held. There were dozens of people standing around outside the doors waiting for dates and friends. We push through the crowd and walked into the Great Hall. Many of us, even the one's who had helped decorate it, were awed at the appearance of the huge room.

There were red and green streamers over the doors and windows with gold, red, and green balloons floating around the walls as well. There were lit candles floating around the ceiling accompanied by gold glitter that hovered in the air for the light from the candles to sparkle off of. There were dozens of round tables spread around the outside edges of the hall, the long teachers table at the head was covered in refreshments and snack foods. In one corner a band was setting up, but the faint sweet drone of a violin was coming from another, unidentifiable source.

"I always wanted to be in a band." I said.

"Really? Can you play anything?" a woman a little older than us with short black spiked hair wearing a festive green and red dress with gold glitter and ribbons on it asked me from out of no where.

"Erm, I can play a little on the drums... Why do you ask?"

"Oh! I'm Terra, I'm the singer in the band. You see, my publicist wants us to connect with the fans more or some crap like that and I was talking to you head boy and girl earlier and they said that we could do a little karaoke type thing at some point to get the students to feel a little more involved and connected with the band to really get things going you know? So just now when I over heard you I had this idea suddenly hit me: let some of the students play with the band for a bit, a song or two maybe, no more, and we can switch it up and stuff, so will you?"

"Um, wow, you talk really fast." Becca blinked at her blankly.

"Yes, I know, people tell me that a lot. So will you do it? Pretty, pretty please?" she gave me the puppy dog eyes and I had no choice but to give in.

"Okay, if it's all right with you guys?" I asked everyone else, looking mainly at Becca. I didn't want her to feel like I had abandoned her at the ball.

"Fine with me just so long as you don't steal my boyfriend." she joked with Terra.

"No worries there, the bass player is my boyfriend, so I'm set." she winked at us cheerily "Any of the rest of you play any instruments? Know anyone that plays instruments? Can sing maybe?"

"Erm... That one kid in Hufflepuff plays the acoustic guitar..." Remus said.

"And there's a Ravenclaw girl who can sing really well." Added Rach.

"Becca here can play the guitar too, electric guitar I believe." Rebby pointed out.

I looked over at Becca with raised eyebrow in time to see her blush. It wasn't a normal blush either where you just suddenly turn pink, you could actually see this blush start at her toes and slowly creep up to her hair line, it was quite amusing and most likely the best blush I've ever witnessed. If I weren't so nice I would laugh at her. Oh, wait, I'm not that nice am I? "Becca, I just watched your blush slowly creep from your toes to your hairline, and it had to be the best blush I have ever witnessed." I laughed.

"Thanks Sirius." she rolled her eyes at me. "I can play the guitar, but I'm not great at it. I can play the piano pretty well and sing okay too, on certain songs that is."

"Why, Becca, I never knew you had a musical side to you!" I said in fake shock. I'd always known somehow that her sense of poetical rhythm had to mean she had some talent with music as well.

"Yes, well, I am amazing at everything, you should realize this by now." she gave me a wink and turned back to Terra. "So, when are you going to do this thing? And what song are we going to play?"

At this point I became much more interested in what James and Remus were cooking up, and took the opportunity to melt to the back of the group. "Now, what are you two getting up to?"

"We were thinking band reunion." Remus said.

"Oh no." I said, my eyes widening in horror "No. No, no, no, no, no."

"Yes..." James said, wiggling his fingers at me like he was trying to control my mind with them. He had seen a muggle 'magician' do this once and had adopted the action ever since. "you want to get the band back together. It is your life goal. Get... The... Band... Back... Together..."

"No, I don't. I want to dance with Becca, eat some food, snog in the shadows in the garden, eat, perhaps play the drums a bit, for one song for this nice lady over here, and go to bed and sleep, that's what I want to do. Notice that getting the band back together isn't in there anywhere."

"Party Pooper." James said.

"But why not?" Remus whined. He rarely whines, so this told me it was one of his ideas.

"Because the band sucked. The band was horrible. The band no longer has a singer or a lead guitarist."

"The band lives on! The band rocks! And Becca can play the guitar right? She can play for us. And we can find someone to sing, I know it! Come on Sirius, please?" Remus gave me the puppy dog eyes, and it was all over. He's just such a cute little werewolf. Insert mental eye roll here.

"Fine, but only if Becca doesn't mind and if you can find a halfway decent singer."

"YES!" Remus did an air punch.

"We're getting the band back together! We're getting the band back together!" James started dancing around and bumped into Lily. He caught her just before she fell and started swinging her around still chanting 'we're getting the band back together' as he did so.

"James! Put me down!" Lily half yelled at him.

"Yes Ma'am!" He set her back on the floor, smiling from ear to ear. "Remus, let's go, we've got to find a singer!" Then he and Remus crept off while the girls were preoccupied again to find some poor, unlucky soul to play sing in the band.

I shook my head at their retreating backs, then went back over to where the girls were. Terra had gone to finish setting up, and, left to their own devices, the girls had started gossiping, mainly about the Slytherines. Oh boy! Slytherine gossip! My favorite!

No, really, it is.

"Did you see? Snape came with that one girl, Vivian." Rebby pointed out.

"Isn't she the one who slept with that guy?" Rach asked.

"Yeah, and Narcissa is with Malfoy again." Lily added

"Bellatrix and Rodalphus are here together as well. I would have thought he would have dumped her annoying ass by now, but I guess he has his reasons." I added in. The girls all turned to look at me like I was insane or some sort of creature with four heads. "What? I can't trash talk the Slytherines if I don't know the gossip, duh."

"Wow, Sirius, I've never seen this feminine side of you." Becca giggled at me and I rolled my eyes at her.

"Did you notice that table over there?" I pointed at a table in the far corner that was full of Slytherines, the table that Malfoy and his little gang had walked over to just now.

"Yeah, it's full of Slytherines, what about it?" Becca asked.

"My 'fiancé' is sitting over there in the very back snogging some poor soul from Ravenclaw I think, the little slut." I said, shaking my head in mock disappointment. "Oh woe is me, my life is over. Good bye love, good bye cruel world, and good riddance slutty whore of a 'fiancé'."

"How very melodramatic of you Sirius, do act it out again so I can beat you to the ground for it." Becca glowered at me.

"No thanks, I think I'd like to keep my dignity in tact for tonight." I winked at her.

"Good luck with that." Lily said.

"Thanks, I'll need it." and I would, especially if Remus and James managed to find someone stupid and gullible enough to sing with us.

"Hey, where'd my date go?" Rebby asked, looking about for Caleb.

"Oh, he went to say hi to his dorm mates while we were talking." Becca replied, waving her hand in the general direction of where Caleb was standing at a table laughing with some people.

"Well then, I'm off to collect him I guess." Rebby said winking. Poor guy is going to get embarrassed as hell when she gets over there, especially seeing as she hangs out with Becca so much. The mischievous nature had to have rubbed off by now.

"How about we go find a table?" Lily suggested "And does anyone know where James went?"

"He and Remus are attempting to find someone gullible enough to embarrass themselves on purpose in front of the entire school with us, they'll find us in a bit." I said.

"Um, right then." Lily blinked and looked confused for a moment.

"Hey, guess what?" Becca asked.

"What?" Rach replied.

"FOOD! That's what. I'm hungry, lets go get some grub." she then proceeded to smile, grab Lily and my arms and skip off towards an empty table, making it impossible for us to get to the table with her without skipping as well or risking falling flat on our faces and being dragged like that the rest of the distance. Rach followed along, laughing at our appearance.

When we sat down, we looked at the menus and ordered our food, which then instantly appeared on the table. Rebby and Caleb joined us moments later, Caleb was beat red and Rebby was still laughing. I knew she would embarrass him thoroughly. Halfway through the meal Remus and James came back and sat down dejectedly and ordered some food as well. Apparently their search for a singer was in vane.

After we had finished our meal, we talked for a bit about Christmas break and, more importantly, what everyone was doing for it.

"Skiing where?" James asked.

"In Utah, it's in the United States. My family has a time share there, so we visit every year. Usually we go later on in the year, around Easter break, but this year we're going early for some reason." Becca replied. You could see her eyes light up when she talked about it. I never knew she liked any sport other than quidditch so much.

"How long are you staying this time?" Lily questioned.

"Oh, eleven days, not too long."

"Good, so you won't be gone the entire Christmas break then." I said.

Becca raised an eyebrow "no..."

"So what are you doing for break Lily?" I changed the topic swiftly before Becca could ask me what I meant.

"Spending time with my lovely family." Lily rolled her eyes. "More like torture these days really."

"You're coming to my country house after Christmas day, right?" I asked.

"Um... What?" Lily blinked owlishly.

"Well, my family has a country house way out somewhere in Ireland and I always invite my friends to come and stay for the time leading up until Christmas eve. You four are invited this year as well if you'd like to come."

"Really?" Rebby asked.

"This could be... Interesting..." Lily said.

"No, seriously, how rich are your parents? They own a huge house in London, an entire island in Greece, a country house with grounds the size of four regulation size quidditch fields... Dios mio..." Becca rolled her eyes and shook her head. "What am I getting myself into?"

"Er... Huh?" I said.

"Oh, never mind, I'll explain my Spanish and the corresponding sarcasm later."

"Gotcha..." I narrowed my eyes at her. You just never knew what she was saying in Spanish... The other day she called me a cow's tail... Just for fun she called me a cows tail in Spanish... What's with that?

"Remus, you?" Rach asked.

"Erm... I'm, uh, going to stay at Sirius's house the first week... Then I'm going to Sirius's place for the rest."

"You're not going to see your parents."

"Erm, no." Remus, looked down at his plate and fiddled with his food. Poor guy. "What about you Rach?"

"Going to stay with my family for a bit, see the relatives, kiss babies, sell my soul to the devil, you know the drill." Rach rolled her eyes. Remus gave her a sad little smile that she assumed to be one of pity, but how little she knows...

"James?"

"I'll just be staying with my parents all break. After Christmas day we annually migrate from Sirius's house to mine, so if the four of you would like to come to my house as well, feel free. My parents always feel that the more the merrier."

"That's fun." Lily looked a tad bit relieved.

"Except of course during the days when I randomly show up at your house to wish you a happy holiday, drag you into a rug closet to snog, and then abruptly leave." and now we know why she looked so relieved, she thought she had managed an entire conversation without James talking about how much he likes to snog her in a broom closet. Well, welcome to my hell Lily Evans.

"James..." Lily gave him the death glare, and he shut up. He learns quickly apparently. It took me four death glares from Becca before I realized she was trying to burn a whole in my head with her eyes because I did something wrong. Some call that being thick, I call it blissful ignorance.

After a few details were exchanged and such, we all noticed that the band had started playing. It was a quick song that was popular, so we hopped up and started dancing. Well, I think you could call it dancing. I mean, I can dance, my parents made sure of that by sending me to lessons since I was old enough to walk, same with James. Lily was doing fine, and so was Rach. Remus was managing with what James and I had taught him before his first Yule Ball and what he'd picked up since then. The rest were all a bit... Lacking in the dancing talent department. They all seemed to have fun with it though. Rebby and Becca, through some unspoken agreement, turned at the same moment and began doing some made up routine of classic dance moves, including, but not limited to, the sprinkler, the shopping cart, the disco thing where you point at things, the lawnmower, and a few others that they had apparently made up on their own. When they first started doing this I completely stopped and stared at them as they managed to clear most of the other dancers to the side of the dancing area while they did their entire routine. When the song ended and their dance fell apart, they did nothing but laugh for a full ten minutes. I looked to Lily to see if this was normal behavior and, from her eye roll and off hand comments to James, I decided it must be, and swooped out to drag Becca into dancing some more, though a little less "old school". Rebby and Caleb started dancing again as well.

A few songs down the line there was a slow song. I must say, while Becca can't dance very well with quick paced songs, disregarding her hip old school moves with Rebby that is, she can slow dance with the best of them. She let me take the lead quite easily, a difficult task for her I'm sure, and rested her head on my shoulder, her arms circling my neck while I rested my hands on her hips. After the slow dance ended, we danced to a couple more fast paced songs, then another slow song came on. This time, when it ended, we decided to take a break and get something to drink. That's when I noticed that two of our fellow dancers were missing: Remus and Rach.

"Rach?" I whispered in her ear.

"Yes?" she looked up fro where her head was resting on my shoulder. The first slow dance was about to come to an end and I had had enough of the tension in the pit of my stomach to last me a life time. If I was going to tell her, I needed to tell her now, before I'm from the worry of it.

"Let's walk outside for a bit, shall we?"

"Alright." we left the dance floor just as the song was ending, so no one noticed that we had left at all as they began dancing to another upbeat tune. We walked out the big double doors and into a large garden built for the purpose of allowing students at the Yule Ball to go outside and sit and talk or cool off from their dancing. Most often, however, the darker more secluded parts of the garden area was utilized in a different manner: an outdoor broom closet for snogging in. This, sadly, was not my intention when I led Rach to one of the darker corners of the garden further away from the noise of the Ball and the other people outside 'taking in the stars'.

"Well, this is awfully forward for you." Rach teased. Apparently I'm not the only one who noticed the bit about people snogging in the dark corners of the garden. I smiled sadly and nodded. "What is it Remus?" she was frowning now, worried that I was growing ill again most likely.

"Nothing, just... Let's have a seat shall we?" I gestured nervously to a small two person bench seat near us. We sat and I tried to remember the words I had rehearsed time and time again this evening. "Rach, I... I'm a... You see I... When I was young I... Oh, bloody hell, this isn't working." I cursed myself for becoming so tongue tied and looked angrily at the ground between my feet.

"Remus? What is it? You never curse, why are you cursing now?" Rach not only looked, but now sounded worried.

I sighed. Not telling her would be worse than telling her at this point. 'Be a man, Remus!' Sirius voice echoed in my head. Not the usual voice of my conscience, but I'll take what I can get. "Rach, when I was a little boy, I was playing in the woods..." I told her the whole story, all of it, every little detail of getting bitten by that damn Fenrir Greyback and becoming a werewolf, how all my absences due to health or the need to visit ill and dying relatives were excuses for the days before and after I changed. At some point I noticed she'd begun to cry, and I heard my own voice crack, but forced myself to keep on telling her what I had come out here to say, what had to be said. Eventually, I finished with "and I just had to tell you, because I didn't want to keep it from you any longer, because you deserve better than that, I thought you deserved the truth, so there it is. I hope this doesn't... I hope you don't stop lov-liking me because of it, I really don't." I was fighting back the tears now. I really like Rach, love her even, maybe... Whatever love is exactly... It's not like my familial situation exudes the definition of love, now does it?

"Remus, I, you... I'm so sorry..." Rach was still crying, and she looked so sad. He face was very pale, nearly devoid of color, and her chin quivered as she talked. 'Oh, no... She's not going to accept me... She's going to tell me she can't love a monster like me, some terrible beast that does nothing but kill in the moonlight... What else did I expect? Who could love someone like me...' I was full flow on my depressing rant about how horrid I am and how I don't deserve to live much less be loved by someone like Rach when, quite suddenly, I realized she was talking again. "Remus, I... How could I ever not like you? I... I..." her tears fell heavier now, and she looked like she was battling some inward force, her brow furrowed in a look of both confusion and indecisiveness. Then "I love you!" she said quite suddenly. Then, before I could do anything else, she leaned forward and began to kiss me. At first it was a light kiss on the lips, then I realized exactly what she had said, and, pulling back from the kiss, whispered "I love you too." then pulled her into another, deeper kiss. 'Love... What is love? Is this love? It must be, or else I've gone mad, completely off my rocker, insane... And don't they always say love is crazy? Don't they always say love is for fools and lunatics? Well,' I mused 'if that's the case, I must be both a fool and a lunatic...'

"Alright! Everyone, listen up! So, me and my band mates, with the help and input of our lovely manager, have decided to do a bit of audience participation tonight. So, who wants to sing tonight?" Terra said into the microphone. "Anyone? Come on now, don't be shy... Yes! You there, in the back, come on up!"

I stood and walked to the front of the room. Great. How exactly did I get volunteered for this? I'm not a singer, I don't sing, not in public. In public, singing is not something I do seriously, silly singing where you purposefully sound horrible, I do that, singing alone to my radio or with friends in private, I do that as well, but never ever do I sing alone in public.

"Alright, your name is?" Terra held the microphone up to me.

I'm pretty sure at this point I adopted the 'deer in headlights' look as I realized exactly how many people were staring at me. Great, just great. "Becca Burns." someone said into the microphone. Oh, wait, that was me. I was having one of those out of body experiences, where you do and say things and don't even realize you're doing or saying them until they happen. Earlier I had felt a little awkward about volunteering my services for playing the guitar, and, somehow, the girls had all gotten to talking about me singing one song in particular in our dorm all the time. It wasn't my fault I could never get the damn thing out of my head, but apparently they all decided that it was time to take my one woman dorm act on the road and reveal it to public eyes. This, of course, led them to volunteer me to sing for Terra, which at first hadn't seemed so bad... Then I realized I have never sung more than an occasional 'oh' or 'ah' as backup in public. Which leads us back to me, standing on a spotlight stage, eyes wide, mouth dry, throat blocked, attempting to get up the nerve to do more than croak a response into the mic as Terra asked me the next question we had discussed earlier. "What house are you in?"

"I'm a seventh year Gryffindor." I managed to squeak out. Have I mentioned I really dislike being on stage? Because I do, I really, really, do.

"Alright, Johnny, you wanna pick it up for us?" Terra said to the drummer. Then, seeing the fear in my eyes, gave me a wink of encouragement and handed me the mic. I held it awkwardly in my hand while Terra went to tell the band what song they were playing. I swept the audience with my eyes once more and this time as they passed over the front row they were met by a set of gray-blue eyes almost directly in front of me.

"Alright Becca!" Sirius yelled encouragingly.

That was all it took, that little bit of strength to borrow from someone else, a deep breath, and I was in stage persona. My stage persona has a name, it's Beth, Beth is the side of me that lives for the spotlight, the attention, center stage and all it's glory. Beth has not seen the light of day for more than the occasional spectacular catching of the snitch during a quidditch game since my band days, way back in the summer after second year. Hence the reason all of my friends, excluding Rebby, were surprised when I let out my deep breath, open my eyes to the crowd, and the drummer counted out the tempo with an accompanying tap of his drum sticks. "a One, a two, a one, two, three, four!"

"I didn't know Becca could sing." Rach said and she and Remus, both with slightly tear stained cheeks, came up behind us. They both look a bit worse for their wear, but happy none the less. That's good, I was worried for them, for Remus, before, but now that they've gotten it over with, and apparently with good results, I could fully focus on the matter at hand: my girlfriend about to die from stage fright in front of the whole school.

"Neither did I." I replied. Maybe if I could just give her some support, let her know we're here, that she can use our strength, my strength... "Alright Becca!" I yelled, putting on my most encouraging smile and nodding at her from the place we had managed to elbow ourselves into in the front row. "Go Becca! Woohoo! Alright!"

"I wouldn't worry about her so much, mate, she's done this before." Rebby gave me an odd little smile, oddly proud and somehow knowing.

"But, she looks terrified." I was a little confused. How could she have done this before if she looked so completely and utterly scared on the stage?

"She is terrified," Rebby said, smirking "or is she? Look again, look now."

I did as she said and looked up at Becca again. She didn't look scared anymore, she looked... Peaceful. She was standing, eyes closed, taking a deep breath while the band tuned their guitars and such. When they had finished tuning, she opened her eyes and exhaled at the same time. When the drummer started counting you could see the change in her attitude, the way she stood, the expression on her face, the nearly manic glint of joy in her eyes as she surveyed the audience again. Her eyes landed on mine again, and she winked at me. 'She's a completely different person up there.' I thought.

Then her cue came and she began to sing. It was an upbeat song, one I hadn't heard before, probably from a muggle band.

"Sometimes I have dreams  
I picture myself flying  
Above the clouds  
High in the sky  
Conquering the world  
With my magic piano  
Never being scared  
But then I realize

I'm supergirl  
And I'm here  
To save the world  
And I wanna know  
Who's gonna save me?  
I'm supergirl  
And I'm here to  
Save the world  
And I wanna know  
Why I feel so alone

Seems like a dream  
But there's one thing missing  
Nobody's here with me  
To share in all that  
I've been given  
I need someone  
That's strong enough for me

I'm supergirl  
And I'm here  
To save the world  
And I wanna know  
Who's gonna save me?  
I'm supergirl  
And I'm here to  
Save the world  
And I wanna know  
Why I feel so alone

Hey ooh

I need someone  
I won't stop till  
I find the one  
Who will start  
Belonging in my life  
I need someone  
I won't stop till  
I find the one  
Who will start  
Belonging in my life

I'm supergirl  
And I'm here  
To save the world  
And I wanna know  
Who's gonna save me?  
I'm supergirl  
And I'm here to  
Save the world  
And I wanna know  
Why I feel so alone

I'm supergirl  
And I'm here to  
Save the world  
And I wanna know  
Who's gonna save me  
I'm supergirl  
And I'm here to  
Save the world  
And I wanna know  
Why I feel so alone

I'm supergirl  
I wanna know  
Who's gonna save me  
I'm supergirl  
And I'm here to  
Save the world"

When she finished singing, i was speechless. It wasn't that she was the most amazing singer in the world, if anything she was mediocre. What amazed me was how into the song she was, like she was pouring her soul into the song. Plus she was having so much fun with it, jumping around on the stage and making funny facial expressions to go with what she was saying. She was having so much fun up there singing i wanted to jump up onto the stage with her and bounce around in circles like an idiot. After she finished singing and the last few cords died down in the song i just stared at her for a full minute before i realized she was finished singing.

Then I realized, not only had she finished singing, but everyone was applauding. I joined in and gave her a whistle too.

I blushed as everyone applauded. Sirius was giving me this strange, crooked little smile. It was an odd smile, but a good one. Then he seemed to realize he was staring at me and began to applaud with everyone else. I smile at him and looked out at the audience. My stage fright hadn't come back to claim me yet, so i took the chance to do something I'd always wanted to do, something they always do in the movies and books that never really happens in reality. "Thank you! Thanks! Thank you! Um... I'd like to sing another song, if that's okay Tara?" Tara gave me the thumbs up. "Alright then, um, let me just check with the band..." I switched the mic off for a minute. "Do you guys know 'All for you' by Sister Hazel?" they shook their heads no. "Are you sure? Crap... Wait! You can follow the drummer and the singer right? You have those guitars that tune magically?"

"Yeah, we do, but..."

"Well then how about this, my friend Rebby knows this song on the drums, and I think one of the others might know it on guitar. If they do would you let them use your instruments? Then you can just pick up on the beat with the bassist and stuff? Can we do that?"

"Well, we can try, it never hurts... Besides, I needed a break anyways, couple of girls by the snack bar been giving me looks all night. Think it's about time I go and talk to them." he gave me a wink, sat down his guitar, and walked over to the girls.

"Um... How old is he?"

"19."

"Oh... Okay... well, those girls are 13... someone may want to tell him that..."

The drummer rolled his eyes at his friends antics. "I'll handle it." The drummer stood up and walked over to his friend and joined the conversation.

"Well then." I turned on my heel and walked tot he edge of the stage where all my friends were standing and squatted down to talk to them. "Hey, James, you play the guitar right? Do you know any muggle songs?"

"Yeah, tons." he replied, raising an eyebrow.

I dragged him to the side so the others couldn't hear. "You know 'All for you' by Sister Hazel?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Cause you're getting a chance to play it on stage tonight for me, sound like fun?"

James's eyes lit up. "Yeah!"

"Good! Then go get Rebby, tell her what's up, and get ready. I'm going to tell Tara what I'm doing and introduce you guys onstage, okay?"

"I'm on it boss!" James ran off like a little kid headed for a swimming pool full of ice cream.

"Okay then." I stood back up and gave Tara the thumbs up, then turned the mic back on. "Okay everyone, if my singing isn't too horrible for you to have to listen to, I think I'm going to sing another song. Sadly, the band didn't know the one I want to sing, so I've recruited a few of our classmates to help out!" everyone cheered at this "Okay! On the drums, Rebecca Miller!" they cheered some more "And on the lead guitar, James Potter!" the cheering grew louder still and I had to wait a few minutes for it to die down. "Now, we're going to play another muggle song, 'All For You' by Sister Hazel." I paused while a few people hooted and whistled their approval. "And I'd like to dedicate this song to a certain someone, he knows who he is." I winked down at Sirius again, then turned to check with the band to see if they were ready. When they nodded 'yes' I waited for my queue and began to sing.

"Finally I figured out,  
But it took a long time   
Now there's a turnabout,  
Maybe cause I'm trying'  
There's been times, I'm so confused  
Down my road, will it lead to you?   
Just can't turn and walk away

It's hard to say what it is I see in you  
Wonder if I'll always be with you  
Words can't say it, I can't do  
Enough to prove, it's all for you

And I'd thought I seen it all,  
Cause it's been a long time  
Oh bothered that we'll trip and fall,  
Wonderin' if I'm alive   
There's been times, I'm so confused  
Down my road, will it lead to you?  
I just can't turn, you walk away

Its hard to say what it is I see in you  
Wonder if I'll always be with you   
Words can't say, and I can't do  
Enough to prove it's all for you

Rain comes pourin' down,  
Fallin' from blue skies   
Words give out a sound,  
comin' from your eyes

Finally I figured out,  
But it took a long long time  
Oh now there's a turnabout,  
Maybe cause I'm tryin'  
There's been times, I'm so confused  
Down my road, will it lead to you?  
Just can't turn, you walk away

Its hard to say what it is I see in you  
Wonder if I'll always be with you  
Words can't say, I can't do  
Enough to prove it's all for you

Well it's hard to say what it is I see in you  
Wonder if I'll always be with you  
Words can't say, I can't do  
Enough to prove, it's all for you

Hard to say   
Hard to say, it's all for you..."

When I finished singing everyone applauded again. James and Rebby were getting into the whole on stage thing and were bowing and stuff. I took the opportunity to see Sirius's reaction. I looked down to where he had been standing.

He was gone.

Startled, I looked around the room wildly, trying to find his face among the crowd. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder spin around.

"Sirius! There you are-" and then of course he kissed me. Right there on stage in front of the whole school, he kissed me.

When he stopped kissing me I turned bright pink, giggled like an idiot, handed the microphone to Tara, and ran from the stage. Somehow I managed to hang onto Sirius's hand and ended up dragging him with me all the way out of the room. I stopped and leaned against the wall in the hallway outside of the Great Hall and I closed my eyes for a moment, reliving that feeling of being in stage singing in front of everyone. "I really don't understand why anyone would ever do drugs, singing, being on stage like that, is more of a rush than drugs could ever be. I mean, talk about your natural highs." opened my eyes, smiling dreamily.

Sirius was giving me this look like I was the funniest thing in the world. Like he was thinking I was just hilarious... And something else... There was something else in that look... "You were great." he said.

And somehow, that was just what I had been waiting for him to say, and I hadn't even known I was waiting for him to say anything. "Thanks." I grinned from ear to ear. "Hey, I want to show you something. Come on." I turned and dragged him off, down the halls of the school, laughing and giggling as I went.


	27. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

"Well that was fun." Rebby said as we all sat back down at our table. Sirius and Becca had rushed from the room making goo-goo eyes at each other, leaving Rebby, Caleb, Rach, Remus, James and myself in the Great Hall. After Rebby and James relinquished the instruments to their rightful owners, we danced for a bit, and then decided to take a break and sit back down.

"I wonder what else will happen tonight." Rach commented "I mean, first the garden thing, then the singing thing, what else could happen?"

"I don't know, but what exactly did you talk with Remus about in the gardens? Hmm?" I asked inquisitively. I had a pretty good idea what it was, but it was quite possible I was wrong. Not likely, but possible.

"Um, well…" Rach exchanged a look with Remus. "Erm… not now, maybe later, ok?"

"I knew it! He told you didn't he?" Rebby burst out.

"Hey now, I knew it first!"

"How do you know you knew it first?"

"Because I'm the clever one, remember?"

"Oh, right… well I knew it second! I don't think Becca even gave it a thought, she's been all psyched out over the singing thing and the dance thing and the Sirius thing…"

"This is true."

"Wait, you guys already knew about it?"

"Yes, Lily found him out and refused to lie to us about it, us being me and Becca, she left telling you up to Remus, didn't want to ruin the relationship."

"Huh… ok…well… punch anyone?" Rach blinked, then stood up and walked off to fill up her punch glass.

"Hey, Lily? Mind taking a walk with me in the gardens?"

"I am your date; a walk in the gardens is kind of a must at a dance isn't it? But don't get any funny ideas." I stood and gave him a playful glare, the kind that says 'I'm serious in a lighthearted way'. I mean, I like James, I really do, but I don't know… something just isn't right about it…

"Okay, sounds good to me." James smirked and took my arm as we walked towards the door that led to the gardens. We walked silently through the beautiful rows of bushes with rose vines growing through them and fairies giggling and letting off their blue, yellow, and green glows. When we came to a bench at the back of the garden we sat down.

I looked up at the night sky and gasped. "It's so beautiful." I said. The stars were shining so brilliantly you could actually see the Milky Way. Combine it with the low glow of the fairies and the view of the night sky was spectacular.

"Yeah, beautiful…" I looked at James only to see that he wasn't staring up at the sky, by directly into my eyes. Gulp.

"Um, so, anything you wanted to talk about?" I asked nervously.

"Well, actually, yeah, kind of." James fiddled around in his coat, trying to find something. "We never really talked about Christmas presents for each other, whether we were going to do that or not, but I thought I should give you something, and, well… here." James had finally found what he was looking for in his inside jacket pocket. He pulled out and handed to me a small, red crushed velvet bag.

"Um, but James, I didn't get you anything… I mean… you really didn't have to…" I tried to give it back to him, but he pushed my hand away gently.

"Just… just open it, please?" James asked, almost pleaded.

"Okay… I guess…" I tugged at the little red silk draw strings on the bag until they came loose, letting the bag fall open. Out of the bag I drew a long black velvet box. A box like this could only hold one thing: jewelry. "James, really, you shouldn't have…"

"Go on, open it up." He urged.

I sighed and gently flipped an old looking little locking mechanism open, then lifted the lid of the box. Inside was a necklace. It was an oval shaped pendant made in the same style as the Victorian cameos: an oval of gold with intricate design serving as a frame for an oval of smooth, flat black stone. Set in relief from the black stone was a lily made from white stone, one petal tilting to the right, the stem curving slightly to the left making the flower bend elegantly to that side. It was beautiful, but I couldn't keep it. A gift like this, when I still wasn't sure if I really liked him, or if I just have a crush on him… well, it's not fair to him for me to keep it.

"James… it's beautiful, gorgeous really…"

"You like it then?" I nodded hesitantly "I knew you would! Wait… if you like it, then why aren't you smiling?"

"I… I love it James, but..."

"'But' what?"

"But I can't keep it… it's not that I don't like it or that I don't like you… I just don't know if I like you enough for this kind of gift… it was probably really expensive and… it just wouldn't be fair to accept it when I'm still not sure if what I'm feeling for you isn't more than, I don't know, a crush or something…" I suddenly realized I was babbling and James was completely silent.

"Lily…" he looked down at his hands and when he looked back up at me he was completely serious, not even a sign of laughter or the twitch of a smile "Lily, I understand what your saying, I understand your reservations, but I still think you should keep that necklace."

"Why? Why are you so adamant?"

"Because… I didn't just buy that necklace in a store; I didn't even pick it out for you. That necklace…" James seemed to be struggling with the words to say what he wanted to me. It was a very serious moment, I know, and all I could think of should have been what James could possibly be talking about, but for some reason the thought 'he looks so cute when he scrunches up his eyebrows like that' popped into my head. Way to go brain, you couldn't think that when he isn't being serious for once? "Lily, you know my grandparents are dead, right?"

"Um, yes…"

"Well, my grandmother, my father's mother, before she died she told me a story, every night she tucked me she would tell me this story. It was about a beautiful princess with long red hair and bright green eyes who lived in a great castle. The princess met a knight in the castle and fell in love, but she wouldn't admit it. One day the knight told the princess he loved her, but the princess didn't believe him. The next day he told her he would be leaving the castle for a while and left her a token, a necklace, to remind her of him while he was away. The knight set out courageously to fight a dragon terrorizing a nearby village, but he never came back. The princess was very sad and finally realized that she loved the knight. After a year passed, everyone had given up that the knight must be dead, but not the princess. She hoped year after year that he would come home so she could tell him how she felt. Everyday she prayed for his safe return, and everyday she wore the necklace. Sadly, according to my grandmother's version of the story, the knight never returned."

"That's so sad, but I still don't understand why…"

"Let me finish." James pleaded "My grandmother told me the story this way when I was younger, but just before she died, the year before I first came to Hogwarts, she told me the story again, but in a different way. This time when she told the story it wasn't a fairy tale of knights and princesses, but simply a love story between a young girl and a young boy. When she finished telling me the story she said that it wasn't just some made up tale, it had really happened. She told me it was a family legend. You see, the knight or the young man in the story was one of my ancestors. He and the princess or young girl actually did live in a castle together and did fall in love and it did end tragically. The castle was Hogwarts, the young man went to school here and ran off to help fight off a wild dragon that was attacking Hogsmeade along with many of the other male students. A lot of the students died, and a few were either eaten or burned beyond recognition by the dragon, so when the young man came up missing no one but the young girl thought there was any possibility he was alive. And the young man had given her a necklace, this very same necklace as my grandmother tells it. But that's where the similarities in the legend and the fairy tale end. You see, the young man and the young woman were reunited after this incident, a year later they found one another. They were married and had a child, a boy, but then were killed unexpectedly. The necklace and its story were passed on through the child and the young man's family. The tragedy is there, but so is a thread of hope, the child…" James sighed "Now comes the part where that necklace belongs to you. Apparently the way the young couple was able to find one another again after all that had happened was the necklace. The young man had bought it and placed a charm on it so that he would know where the young girl was when ever she was in danger. The way the charm works, the person who places the charm gives it to someone and the first person to put the necklace on is automatically linked to the person who placed the charm so that they may know when the necklace wearer is in trouble. The only thing is, when the young man placed the charm he also placed a lock on the necklace. Only someone whom he truly loved and whom truly loved him could wear the necklace. If any other were to put the necklace on they would find that the clasp wouldn't work and the necklace would continually fall off."

"Where are you going with this?" I asked him hesitantly. I had a feeling where he was going with this story, and I didn't like it very much.

"My grandmother told me that they necklace would only work for certain people in the family. It had worked for her and my grandfather, but not for my own parents or for my great grand parents. She told me that she knew it would work or me though. She never told me why or how she knew it, just that she did." James had been twiddling his thumbs, watching himself spin them round and round while he talked, but now he looked up at me again with those serious eyes. "I found out a couple of years ago why she was so convinced of her statement that I would be the next in our line that the necklace worked for: she was a Seer. But the gift affected her in an odd way. Instead of dreams or visions and stuff like most Seers get, she would touch an object, a really old object usually, something with a lot of emotion attached to it, and be able to see where it had been and sometimes where it would go in the future. Apparently that princess in the story, her description wasn't something passed down with the story, it was what my grandmother saw when she touched the necklace. She saw the young girl, the original owner of the necklace, and she saw the necklaces next owner. She based her description of the princess on both of them apparently: long red hair, bright green eyes, beautiful." He paused and let a smile fall into place on his face. My heart skipped a beat. "Sounds like you."

I wanted to jump up and run away, to scream that he was making it all up and he was being stupid, but I couldn't. I was glued to the bench. I couldn't even speak. Finally I managed to say something, but it wasn't what I had planned on saying during my moments of paralyzation. Instead of telling him he was crazy or something to that effect, I said "May I try it?"

James's smile grew wider so that it reached his eyes. "Of course. That was kind of the point." James lifted the box from my lap and pulled the necklace from it, gently. "Lean forward a bit, so I can reach." I felt my body move without my brain giving it permission and leant towards him close enough to kiss. He deftly took the necklace and placed it around my neck, the clasped it in the back, his eyes never once leaving my own.

"So how do we know if it works?" I whispered.

"We'll find out soon enough." He replied. Then, being that we were in a romantic garden during the Christmas Ball and he was telling me a romantic legend and giving me a very touching gift, we kissed, and the whole world melted away. The world melted away and I felt free and relaxed for the first time in days.

"Well, that brings our numbers down to four." I said to the three people sitting at our table drinking punch and eating cookies.

"When did Sirius and Becca disappear?" Remus asked.

"More importantly, where did they disappear to?" Rach added.

"They left after Becca's singing debut, but where to I haven't a clue."

"Rebby, you're rhyming." Caleb said, giving me an amused look.

"So… dancing?" Remus suggested.

"More cookies?" Rach added.

"Another disappearing act?" Caleb said, standing from the table and holding his hand out to me. Oh boy.

"Erm, yeah, sure." I looked at Remus and Rach as I stood "See you guys later I guess?"

"I think we'll actually head on up to the commons. Maybe we'll see you there in a bit?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, maybe…" I replied absent mindedly. Caleb had put his jacket back on and was leading me out of the Great Hall, into the gardens and I was too busy staring at his beautiful backside to pay much attention to what the other two were saying.

He led me into the gardens, and then wrapped his arm around my shoulders we meandered through the paths. We walked in silence, occasionally pointing out the stars or some flowers. It was a comfortable silence; we didn't have anything to say, so we didn't jumble the air with useless talk. Instead, we just walked in the warm night air.

When were in the back part of the garden in one of the darker areas when we heard someone talking, narrating really. "Hey, isn't that James?" I asked. Caleb shrugged and stalked forward, peeking around the corner. He pulled his head back and nodded at me. It was James talking. I crept forward as well and looked. James stopped talking and the two of them kissed.

We both snuck away from that part of the gardens trying to contain our laughter. I don't know why it was so funny, but it was. We stood a couple of paths over and laughed until we just couldn't anymore. Caleb found a bench nearby and sat down, leaning back and looking up at the stars. I sat down and leaned into his side as he wrapped an arm around me again and I joined him in looking at the stars.

We sat there for a while, gazing into space, before I realized he wasn't looking at the stars anymore, he was looking at me. Looking at me and smiling softly. Oh boy.

Our eyes connected and I couldn't even blink. I was stuck. His big blue eyes were pulling me in, dragging me closer and closer and closer until… we bumped noses.

"Ow." I laughed a little.

"S-sorry… want to try that again?" he asked, laughing a little as well.

"Yeah." we leaned in again, this time with out the eye lock or the nose bump, and kissed. All I can say is… wow.

"Becca, where are we going?" she was leading me through parts of the castle I'd never been to before. The passages were old, dark, and the air was moist.

"I told you already, it's a surprise!" Becca smiled over her shoulder at me.

"Good surprise or bad surprise?"

"You'll see! Now keep up!" she walked faster now nearly leaving me behind, though I'm not sure how seeing as she was the one in 4 inch heels.

Then, as suddenly as this little adventure had started, it ended. Becca came to a complete and full stop in front of a large painting, 12" by 14" that covered a large section of the wall extending all the way from the floor to the ceiling. The painting was of the Lake at night from a thick luscious garden, a view Sirius had never seen before. Everything was life size in the painting, so it felt like he was actually in the garden among the wild green vines and thick grass, the bright flowers cooled by a blue summer moon. It must have been a view from someone's imagination, because Sirius couldn't remember ever having seen a garden on the large cliff that dropped off from the castles lake side.

"Ready?" Becca asked. Then with out waiting for a reply she pulled a pencil out of one of the folds in her dress and inserted it into a crevice to the right of the painting. The painting slid upwards into an invisible slot in the ceiling revealing a large, very old wooden door with black iron handle and fastenings. Becca put the pencil back in its little hiding place and from another spot pulled out a little black package of thin silver tools.

"What are those?" I asked her, eyeing the package curiously.

"Lock picks. I still haven't found the actual key to this door, though I think it's hidden in the wall here somewhere. I have a lot of cousins you know, most of them are male. For some reason little brothers find reading their sister's diary to be one of the most interesting things in the world. More than half of them can pick simple locks just so they can get into their sister's diary."

"And you learned to pick locks because?"

"I was bored and I wanted to break into the cookie jar."

"Um…" I tried to hold back my laughter at this. Who locks the cookie jar? Our nanny always had the house elves always just floated them to the top shelf.

"What? My mom was strict on sweets. She put them on the top shelf, but I was like a little monkey climbing up to get to them." Becca had selected a couple of the little instruments and inserted them in the door lock. "So she put an impervious spell on the jar and a muggle padlock spelled only to open the traditional way, with a key, much like this door is actually." Becca turned the two little instruments quickly and I heard a faint 'click' as the door unlocked. "Little did she know that the spell didn't block against lock picking tools." Becca began putting away the lock picking tools.

"And you did all that for cookies?" I asked incredulously.

"No. I learned how to pick locks out of boredom. The cookie thing was just a bonus." Becca slid the little black case back inside the fold in her dress.

"So, do you always carry pencils and lock picking stuff around with you?"

"Yes. I have a pocket knife, my wand, a muggle cell phone, and a small sketch book on me as well, and none of them are in my purse." She wiggled her eyebrows at me, like she was daring me to ask where those items were hidden, then reached for the door handle. "Ladies first." She said, opening the door and waving me through.

"Thank you sir!" I said in a high pitched girly voice, curtsying then ducking through the somewhat small doorway. I waited in a small stone passage on the other side of the door in the dark while Becca shut the door behind herself and pushed a little black switch down, I assume to lock and reseal the door. Then she turned and pushed past me, taking my hand in hers as she went, and led me down the passage. We had only walked for about two minutes when the passage tilted down a little and made large spiral curve. We walked for another couple of minutes before I saw a faint blue glow stretching around the curve of the wall.

"Here we are." Becca announced as we came around the final stretch in the curve and faced another door exactly like the first except that it had a small square window in it at eye level.

This door was unlocked and Becca pushed it open easily and stepped through. I followed her, stepping from the small stone passage onto soft grassy earth.

"What the…" I looked around. We were there, in the garden in the painting. Big wild vines and green plants and colorful flowers all around. There was a grass path cut in the shrubbery that led to the left. We followed it a couple of steps and the garden opened up to the same view of the Lake bathed in pale moonlight. "Becca, this is, wow..."

"I know, isn't it great? My great grandmother on my mother's side came to Hogwarts and found it one year. I found her old journals in the attic one year and was reading them and found a passage about this place and decided to find it myself." She looked around the place lovingly and then walked over to a large cushioned bench that almost passed as a couch.

"Is this where you're always disappearing to?"

"No. I try to come here once a week to maintain it, and it has a spectacular view during the full moon, but that's about it. Mostly when I disappear it's to another place hidden in the castle. Maybe I'll show you that place someday too. This place I just try to maintain though, in honor of my great grandmother. She was proposed to by my great grandfather here you know."

I sat beside her on the bench, which was quite comfortable, and stared out at the Lake in the moonlight. I glanced over at her and took in her beauty in the moonlight as well. The garden was beautiful, the Lake was beautiful and she was beautiful, and I wanted to tell her this. However I am the kind of man who tends to have trouble expressing himself properly in words at times like these. Instead I utilized another method of expression and, instead of speaking my feelings aloud, I kissed her passionately and hoped she would understand the entire message I was trying to get across.

"So this is extremely comfortable." I said, nuzzling my head into Remus's chest. We had come back to Gryffindor Tower and sat down on the squishy couches in front of the fire place. We had talked for a while, and then at some point we had started kissing. After a brief make-out session we were interrupted by some fourth years coming in the portrait hole from the dance. After that Remus had just leant back and stared at the fire and I had curled up and leaned into him.

"Hmm?" Remus was thinking about something, off in another world. Probably thinking about his condition or something; he's always thinking about the big things.

"Nothing." I murmured, gazing off into the fire as well. Remus sighed. I wanted to think it was a happy sigh, a 'I'm so glad about the way my life is going' sigh, but it seemed a little too sad for that.

We snuggled like this in front of the fire for a good half hour before Rebby and Caleb came in, laughing like lunatics. Rebby stumbled coming through the portrait hole after Caleb. He caught her before she hit the ground and helped get her back onto her feet.

"Did we miss something?" I asked, smiling lightly.

"Please tell me Sirius didn't spike the punch again." Remus sighed, rubbing his forehead in irritation. He likes to get into trouble just as much as James and Sirius, but sometimes the things they did were just juvenile. When that happened Remus was more that a word of wisdom, he was like a baby sitter watching a dozen or so out of control 6 year olds.

"No-nope!" Rebby was having trouble controlling her laughter and speaking at the same time.

"No, we're laughing at Lily and James. We caught them making out in the gardens earlier!"

"Um… that sounds romantic, not funny." I said, blinking incomprehensively.

"Yeah, but we left and came back after, erm…" Caleb glanced over at Rebby awkwardly "well, we came back later and they were still making out, so we filled a balloon with confetti and charmed it to float over their heads and explode. The looks on their faces when that balloon popped…" Caleb was imagining the scene again, his eyes focused on something distant.

"They were so surprised Lily jumped a good three feet into the air and landed on the ground on her bum. James jumped too and knocked the bench over backwards. And the confetti was everywhere, all over them. It was so funny!" Rebby burst into laughter again, collapsing onto the arm of an armchair.

"'Scuze me." Caleb said, pushing past Rebby, scooping her up and sitting down in the armchair with her in his lap.

"Well that was unexpected." Rebby stopped laughing and looked at Caleb in surprise.

"I like to be surprising, keeps things interesting." He replied just as blandly.

"You two are…" I searched for the words.

"Perfect for one another?" Remus supplied.

"I was going to say odd, but that works too." Remus and I chuckled softly at the pair of them, Rebby sticking her tongue out at us and Caleb making a faux angry face.

"I can't believe someone would pull a prank on us like that! I bet it was Sirius he's always causing trouble!" Lily stormed into the Commons, covered in confetti, James following after her trying not to laugh. Whether he was trying not to laugh at the prank, Lily covered in confetti, or Lily's reaction, I don't know, but the combination of all three had me stifling chuckles as well.

"Anyways, did anything good happen after we broke off from the group?" James asked.

"Not really. Remus and I came up here and Rebby and Caleb went for a walk." I replied laughing as Lily narrowed her eyes at Rebby and Caleb int heir armchair.

"Wait, you two were in the gardens at he same time we were? Rebecca Antionette Miller, tell me the truth! Did you pull the prank on James and I?"

Rebby, at the use of her full name, hopped out of Caleb's lap. "Hey, Cay, thanks for asking me to the Ball, it was great fun, we should go out again some time, but right now," Rebby glanced over her shoulder at Lily, sliding off her shoes at the same time "I've gotta run!" Rebby sprinted off around the couches avoiding Lily and dashing up towards our dorm room. It took Lily a moment to realize that Rebby had just confessed, but once she connected the dots she kicked her shoes off as well and ran after her. We heard the two girls running up the stairs and across the landing, then a loud thump of a closing door and a duller thump of someone smacking into the door.

"Well, sounds like Rebby managed to make it into the dorm safely. I have a feeling Lily's in a bit of pain at the moment though." I rolled my eyes and stood up, as reluctant as I was to leave Remus's side and my cozy spot on the couch. "I should probably go make sure she isn't lying unconscious on the floor or that she hasn't gotten up and killed Rebby now. Good night Remus, I had a wonderful time." I leaned down and gave him a light kiss on the cheek, but as I went to stand back up again he grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him. He kissed me passionately on the mouth and when he let go I managed to walk all the way up the stairs before I floated back down from cloud nine and realized where I was.

Merlin he's underestimated in the kissing category.

I walked to the dorm where Lily was sitting on the floor rubbing her tender nose trying to tell if it was broken. I forced Rebby to let us in and with a wave of my wand and a muttered "Episkey!" fixed Lily's broken nose.

After that we all sort of realized how tired we were and with out much adieu donned our pajamas and hopped into bed. I snuggled into my covers and tried to pretend I was still sitting on the couch in commons, snuggling into Remus's warm chest, gazing into the enchanting flames of the fireplace.

"Good morning sunshine." A hand gently shook me. I grumbled in my barely conscious state for them to leave me be.

A bright light hit my eyelids and I forced myself to summon enough awareness to roll over and pull my pillow over my head. The only problem was that when I laid my head down on my mattress instead of the pillow, it wasn't my mattress, it was grass.

'Grass? Why is there grass in my bed?' I tried to sweep the grass off my mattress and lay back own, but the grass wouldn't move. It was attached to the mattress. Growling lightly under my breath and extremely irritated at whoever had made my bed grow grass, I sat up and forced my eye lids open to examine the damage and try to fix it.

It was then that I noticed that the grass was growing in dirt. I followed the dirt to where the edge of my bed should have been. "What the…?" I looked up and around myself surveying the open sky above and the trees and plants all around myself. It was then of course that it donned on me that someone hadn't grown grass on my bed, I was outside.

Not that it really mattered. I shrugged my still half asleep shoulders and collapsed back onto my pillow. I shut my eyes and attempted sleep, but that only lasted for about thirty seconds. I sat up sharply for the second time that morning and looked around. 'I'm outside. Why am I outside? And why is the ground so soft?' Then my eyes fell on the man sitting next to me looking at with a bemused smirk on his face, head tilted slightly to the side, the corners of his eyes crinkling in silent laughter.

And then of course I fully woke up. My eyes widened as the memories of the night before flooded back and I realized I had spent the night with Sirius.

"Oops." I blinked. Sirius finally let loose the barking laughter he had obviously been holding in for quite some time. I focused a nice fierce glare in his direction. He stopped laughing immediately. "That's what I thought." I said, rolling my eyes. "Now how is it that we ended up staying out here all night?"

"I don't know, I guess we fell asleep while we were looking at the stars. I woke up and transfigured some rocks into pillows and made the ground soft." Sirius shrugged. This wasn't fazing him at all. Something tells me it's because he's spent the night with a girl before. Spent the night…

Spent the night?!

"HOLY CRAP! I spent the night with you! Oh no! Oh bad! Oh no!" I stumbled to my feet and looked around franticly for my shoes. That's when I realized I wasn't wearing my dress. I was wearing shorts and a tank top, but that didn't make any sense. I had never changed my clothes the night before. "Where's my dress? How did I get these clothes on?"

"Erm…" Sirius looked slightly startled.

"And… WHERE IS MY BRA?!" I was officially freaked out. Different clothes, no bra, slept outside, slept with Sirius. Where's my dress? Where's my shoe's? Did Sirius do this? Was it someone else? Couldn't be anyone else, no one knows about this place, no one but Sirius knows about it.

All things rushing through my head as I collected my dress and shoes, slid my bra on without taking off my tank, and shooed Sirius from his spot on the grass into the long curving tunnel. I was freaking out, spazzing about what had happened with out even being sure what had happened.

It was really early. When I had woken up the sun had only just begun to rise, meaning it was around 7 a.m. on a Sunday. It was a Sunday where everyone was either sleeping in or hurriedly finishing their packing for Christmas vacation. This was good as it meant by going the long way, using several little known short cuts, and putting a disillusionment charm on myself and Sirius allowed us to get back to Gryffindor Tower with out anyone seeing us. I verbally berated Sirius the entire way back to the Tower, only stopping when we were one corridor over to place the disillusionment charm. Sirius was somewhat stunned still, unsure of what was going on past the fact that he was getting beaten over the head by the very large and complicated words coming out of my mouth along with a long series of curse words so he was completely silent as I pushed him through the Portrait hole with one finger at his back. I steered him through the Commons, dodging Fanged Frisbees, First Years, and one fairly exhausted looking Seventh Year with black streaks down her face indicating she had been crying while wearing mascara. He didn't really realize what was going on and start to argue back until I had negotiated our way all the way up to the boy's dorm and taken the disillusionment charm off of him in his dorm room.

Can you say bad timing? I mean, he couldn't find his voice in one of the perfectly abandoned hallways we had walked through?

"Wait, you're accusing me of what?" Sirius finally said, and rather loudly may I add.

"Shuddup Sirius, I'm trying to sleep." Remus growled, rolling over behind his pulled curtains. I looked around the room, all the beds were full. Every single one of them was still in their beds. James and Matt had the curtains still partially open, so I could see the lumps under the covers. Remus had just growled at Sirius. Peter's curtains were pulled together properly, but his arm and leg hung off one side of the bed, the foot and hand barely exposed at the curtain's edge.

"Sirius, hush, go back to bed or something. Get dressed for Merlin's sake! We can talk, argue, whatever the hell you want to do, later, right now I have to sneak into my dorm room without waking five teenage girls, three of whom are light sleepers and two of whom are early risers!" I whispered urgently.

"Would you calm down and stop accusing me of things! I mean at least let me defend myself here!" Sirius obviously doesn't grasp the concept of quiet this early in the morning.

James stirred in his bed. I held my breath. He seemed to settle back down, but then just as I was about to tell Sirius to get back to bed again James rolled over and out of his bed. He made a bee-line for the restroom, mumbling "Morning" to Sirius on the way. At first I nearly had a heart attack, I was sure he would see me. Then I remembered I was still vaguely invisible and breathed a sigh of relief as the door snapped shut behind James.

"Sirius! For the last time get in bed!" I turned to leave the room but a hand reached out to stop me. Sirius had apparently guessed at where I was standing. I turned back and attempted to persuade him to let me go and to talk about it later, but it didn't work. Somehow we just ended up arguing about it right there, though I did manage to get him to lower his voice to a low whisper.

"For the last time I did not take advantage of you! I didn't change you clothes!" he whispered sharply.

I opened my mouth to whisper something back when I felt a spell hit my back and the disillusionment charm shiver then fall away. I whipped my head around only to see a stunned Remus and a bemused James standing behind me by the bathroom door.

"Oh shit."

"Becca you… and he… and your dress…and…" Remus looked slightly puzzled.

"For the record I thought it was some past floozy sneaking in for comfort and getting told to get a life." James smirked, hiding his wand behind his back.

"Wait, so you two actually…?" Remus's unfinished question hung in the air making it thick with tension. That's when it hit me that I didn't really know what had happened the night before. The last thing I remembered was staring up at the stars with Sirius and then waking up this morning. I couldn't have actually answered Remus's question even if I had wanted to. I felt my throat constrict and my breathing became fairly labored.

"Becca? Becca are you okay?" Sirius looked at me worriedly.

"Badbadbadbadbadbadbadbad…" I babbled, my breathing quickening. My breaths came faster and faster but I was sucking in less and less air each time.

I remember becoming lightheaded and dizzy. Objects in the room started to get fuzzy. A sense of weightlessness, of that moment before your stomach catches when you make a sudden dive on your broom. I slipped from my feet to the floor before everything became too hazy and blended together. I vaguely heard someone yell "BECCA!"

Then there was darkness.


End file.
